Take Me Or Leave Me
by StandInTheRain42
Summary: When Ellie Murphy, Beckett's quirky, but lovable cousin moves to town, she's determined to shake the real Kate Beckett from her shell and help her win what she wants: her partner.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Okay, so here's my disclaimer: I do not own Castle. If I did, they would be moving from the current limbo status they are at now, including longing looks and significant phrases…and straight into an actual relationship. Oh, how I hate this stage in fictional relationships. For pity's sake, people, not every couple in the universe is actually this dense…anyway, read and please review, I'll be updating as soon as possible. Enjoy.**_

It was a typical Monday morning at the twelfth, though generally quiet. There had been no murders, as of yet. The detectives were all sitting at the respective desks, going through paperwork. Castle was diverting from his usual repertoire, playing Angry Birds on his phone instead of staring at Beckett, which only helped her so much.

She found it quite amusing to watch him instead. Every so often, his eyebrows would raise and his lips would part, just slightly, indicating a score of some kind. And when something in the game went wrong, he would narrow his eyes and wrinkle his nose just a little bit.

This went on for a couple hours, and Beckett managed to get one and a half reports finished before Castle finally spoke.

"Enjoying the view, Detective?" he said, glancing up from his phone with a playful smirk on his face. Beckett opened her mouth in shock.

After a few moments, she recovered.

"Oh, whatever, Castle…" she mumbled, turning back to her paperwork.

At that moment, Beckett's phone rang.

"Beckett…" she answered.

She listened for a few moments, and Castle watched in fascination as her whole manner changed. She relaxed visibly, shoulders dropping as she leaned back in her chair, "Oh, hey, honey," she greeted the mystery caller. She caught him looking at her and cocked an eyebrow, "Yeah. Okay, just send me your flight information." She rolled her eyes, for once, not at Castle and chuckled, "Oh, yeah, it'll be fun." She paused again, "I'm sure you will…Puh-lease, you two haven't been separate for this long since you were six. Whatever …yeah. I'll see you soon. Love you, too."

"Who was that?" he asked, watching her expression carefully. It was unguarded, happy. It didn't look like the expression she wore when she was talking to Josh, nor did it look like the relieved, reassured expression she wore after speaking to her father. Though, when he thought about it, he couldn't remember Kate ever saying, 'I love you,' to either of them in front of him before.

"Ellie," his partner replied simply, as if he were supposed to know exactly what she was talking about. Castle flipped through his mental, 'Book of Beckett,' and found that the name was not familiar in the least.

"Who's Ellie?" he asked. She smiled, glancing down at the file in her hands and taking a sip of coffee before answering him.

"My cousin," she replied, "She's going to be staying with me for a little while." Castle's eyebrows nearly hit his hairline.

"Wait, what?" he said, obviously confused, "You have a cousin? How have I never heard of her before?" Beckett cocked her head to the side, contemplating her answer.

"She came to visit me last year, too…" she mused aloud. A crease formed between her eyebrows, "but you were in the Hamptons by that time."

Castle sat back, noticing the tension in his partner's shoulders as she thought back to his summer in the Hamptons. Another layer of the Beckett onion he'd yet to pull back. But before him was a new mystery: Ellie.

"And is that all I get to know?"

Beckett chuckled, rolling her eyes at him. He continued to look at her, eyes lit up by curiosity. She wanted to laugh.

"What's to know, Castle?" she teased. He pouted childishly, and she laughed again, "Okay, her name is Eleanor Murphy, though call her Eleanor and she will break you in half. She likes to be called Ellie. She's twenty four, just graduated from Stanford Law."

"So she's just coming to New York for a visit?"

"Yes and no," she answered him, "She is going to begin as the new assistant district attorney next month and is staying with me until she finds a place of her own in New York."

"So you two are close?"

"Yeah…Don't tell me you're looking for another muse..." she teased playfully, thinking back to his jealous over her time with Alex Conrad.

"Other than you? Never," he answered, grinning, "But this should be interesting…Another Beckett to roll her eyes at me, oh, joy."

"You are such a dork, Castle. And, technically, she's a Murphy, not a Beckett."

"You say potato, I say potahtoe…" Castle told her.

"Can't you come up with a better way to say that than stealing worn-out clichés?"

"There's a fine line between cliché and classic, my dear Detective."

They continued to banter like that for a few more minutes, at which time the boys got up and invited the two of them to lunch. They eagerly accepted.

They drove to Remy's in separate cars, and occupied their usual booth. Once they settled in and ordered, Castle turned the conversation back to his partner's upcoming guest.

"So, have these two met Ellie?" Castle asked.

Both of the male detectives looked up at him in confusion, and then to Beckett. She chuckled.

"She called me back at the precinct to make sure she had the right email address for her flight information," she told them.

"Wait, so Ellie's coming?" Esposito asked. Castle observed his expression, which was much softer than usual, and decided that Beckett's cousin must a favorite of his.

"Dude, she's getting a job at the D.A.'s office, don't you ever pay attention?" Ryan teased, "When is she coming?"

"Sometime next week or the week after," Beckett answered, "Not quite sure yet. You know Ellie; she's a fan of last minute planning. How she got through law school, I will never know…"

"A genius level IQ and energy drinks?" Ryan surmised.

"That definitely helped."

"Yeah…she's terrifying with the energy drink thing…"

The rest of the hour was spent exchanging stories about Ellie. The boys were a lot less mysterious about Beckett's cousin, and gave him some actual warning for what to expect from her. Apparently, Eleanor Murphy was prone to obsessive tendencies, could quote random science fiction movies in a heartbeat, and was a talented singer. She'd been dating Jared, her childhood best friend, for two years now, and the pair was strikingly different. She was passionate and loved to read, particularly Jane Austen, though Beckett did admit she'd also read his books. Castle enjoyed listening to the detectives talking, and Beckett seemed particularly pleased with the brotherly overprotectiveness Esposito and Ryan had over her cousin.

The day ended, and a new week began, bringing a case that had their time entirely occupied. Especially since this particular case had taken place at a family reunion, where at least one hundred people had been present. The family, as it turns out, had more problems than the Jacksons: drugs, affairs, twisted scandals and secrets, secret love children, scorned exes, most of which seemed to tie in with their victim. After sifting through days and days of the World's Most Screw Up Family, the answer ended up being rather simple: an heir killing his father for money. Castle found this to be a most monotonous ending, and decided he'd write a family just like this one into his book, except with a far more interesting conclusion. Beckett merely rolled her eyes at him. The next morning they brought the son in and read him his rights. Castle ducked out after the fuss was all over, with the intention of grabbing lunch for his partner.

He was headed for the elevator, carrying a bag of Beckett's favorite take-out food, when his phone fell out of his hand. He glared at the ground, willing it back up to him with his mind to no avail.

"Are you trying to Jedi-mind-trick it to come back to you?" a voice beside him asked. He looked up, startled.

A woman sat on the bench next to the elevator, phone in hand, eyebrow raised in amusement. She leaned over and picked up his phone.

"Thank you," he said dumbly. The woman smiled.

She was pretty, young. With dark hair and startling blue eyes surround by thick, black eyelashes. She smiled a bright, dazzling smile that he was certain if she were really trying, could warm the coldest of hearts. He turned to head back to the elevators, when her voice stopped him again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He stopped, confused.

"Umm…why not?" he asked. She patted the bench beside her, punching a couple more buttons on her phone.

"Because they just started maintenance on it five minutes ago," she told him, glancing up from whatever she was doing.

"Oh," he mumbled, somewhat incoherently.

"Can I ask you a question?" the younger woman said, looking up at him once more.

"Sure."

He sat down next to her, putting the bag of food right by his feet.

"How the hell am I supposed to get past the tenth level of Angry Birds?"

Castle blinked, stunned. Of all the things to ask someone in the middle of a police precinct, that was not one he would have expected. He burst out laughing. The stranger seemed to find this amusing. She put her phone down on her knee and grinned at him.

"Do you always ask questions like that?"

"I'm a fan of random moments. Usually, I can get a smile out of people. Deep in thought right there, you looked like you needed it," she told him.

"What are you…some sort of psychologist or something?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Mind-reader," she replied.

"Ah…a mind-reader in a police precinct…come to bring us the latest information on a murder?"

"Actually I play Angry Birds in the lobby of every precinct I've ever been to," she answered him. She raised an eyebrow and leaned towards him, "What about you? You don't look like a cop…nor do you look like a criminal."

"I've got a friend in the precinct. Thought I'd bring her lunch."

It sounded innocent enough, but the stranger didn't seem fooled.

"A friend or a girlfriend?" she asked. Castle opened and closed his mouth a couple times in shock.

"A friend who is a girl, or, well, woman actually," he answered eventually. She watched him intently for a few moments, and Castle grew more and more anxious under her scrutiny.

"But a friend who is a girl that you want as a girlfriend?" she finally decided. The corners of her mouth turned up playfully and his jaw slackened.

"I…uh, no."

The woman giggled.

"For such a charmer, you're actually a pretty awful liar. Don't be offended, I'd actually prefer it that way…"

"I'm sorry, I don't even know your name…"

"Now where would be the fun in that?" she said. She put her phone in her pocket and grinned, "See you around. Say hi to your partner for me…"

Castle watched her walk away, entirely stunned. It took him a few more moments to gather up his thoughts, pick up his bag of takeout, and head up the stairs to bring Beckett her food.

She wasn't at her desk when he got there, and the boys nodded their heads towards the break room. Coffee break, Castle briefly acknowledged. He sat down at his usual spot at his partner's desk. He sat there for a few minutes, first checking his phone to see if he'd missed any calls when he heard an eerie voice reply:

"Well, if this is what the NYPD does when you aren't tracking down bombs, I think you are highly overpaid…"

_**A/N: So I know this wasn't as much as you probably hoped for, but I promise to update soon. Thanks for reading! And yes, this was really random…it actually sounded more random when I posted it than it did when I was reading it…go figure…**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Okay, so I wanted Ellie to already have a bond with Esposito, Ryan and Montgomery. It may be cheesy, but I really wanted to add another female for them to be adorably overprotective of. Ellie, unlike Beckett, will call them by their first names. This chapter will basically be Ellie's introduction to New York City, and will explain the sisterly bond between Beckett and Ellie. Enjoy!**_

The two detectives and Castle looked up in shock. Before them stood the woman Castle had spoken to in the lobby, grinning with her hands propped up on her hips. Ryan was the first to recover from surprise. He hopped up from his desk and walked towards her.

"Ellie!" Ryan exclaimed, as the young woman threw her arms around his shoulders. He hugged her back tightly.

"Hey, Kevin! How's Jenny doing?"

"Great! Crazy…wedding plans and all that…though I'm sure she'd drop it in an instant to hang out with you," he told her, grinning. Ellie cocked her head to the side and laughed.

"I'd love to see her," she told him. Then, she turned to Esposito, "what's up, Javi?"

The gruff detective chuckled, engulfing Ellie in a bear hug that lifted her off the ground. This made her laugh too.

"I take it you missed me…" she teased, "good. Cause I missed you guys, too."

Castle watched this interaction in amazement, and Ellie's eyes found him. Her grin got even wider.

"Oh my G—" Beckett exclaimed, finally emerging from the break room to find her cousin tangled up in the embrace of her friends. She laughed, looking in between her two colleagues and rolling her eyes, "Causing trouble already, I see…" she teased her.

"It's not my fault I'm so irresistible…" Ellie answered her. They stood across from one another, hands on their hips, grinning. Eventually, both of them collapsed in a fit of laughter, as they hugged one another.

"I thought you were coming tomorrow?" Beckett murmured, pulling back only slightly from her cousin. Ellie smiled.

"I thought it'd be way more fun to surprise you at work…" she answered, "get to see the real live Nikki Heat in action…"

"Shut up…" Beckett said, pushing her shoulder playfully.

"Yeah, right…" Ellie replied. They started laughing again.

He could see the resemblance now. Beckett was taller, thinner than her cousin, not that Eleanor was in any way overweight, just a little curvier. Ellie had darker skin and hair that was nearly black, with a wave Castle thought to be natural, and it came only to her shoulders. Compared to Beckett's ivory skin, Ellie's was a soft bronze. They had the same cheekbone structure, nose, and eye shape, though their eyes were different colors. Where Beckett's eyes were a deep green, Ellie's were more of an icy blue color. Beckett's jaw line was wider, whereas Ellie's was more rounded. When they smiled was when you could really see the resemblance; the same quirk of one corner of their mouth higher than the other, with a dimple on that side. Ellie, like Beckett, was not much of a girly-girl. She was wearing dark, form-fitting jeans and a white, V-neck t-shirt, along with a pair of black ballet flats.

As he was watching, Beckett seemed to recall his presence. She glanced over her shoulder at him, and then laid a hand on Ellie's arm, dragging her back towards her desk where he was still standing.

"Ellie, I'd like you to meet Richard Castle," she began, "Castle, this is my cousin Ellie."

"We met, actually," he told her. Ellie smirked, while her cousin looked confused, "You knew exactly who I was, didn't you?" The younger woman laughed.

"Hell yes," she answered, extending her hand out to him, "thought it'd be a bit fun..."

"Well, it's nice to officially meet you," he said, accepting her hand.

"Likewise," she replied, "I've heard a lot about you…I was actually quite surprised you didn't figure it out." Castle thought for a moment.

"Wait," he said, "I should have! You told me to say hi to my partner for you!"

"Minor slip-up with that word choice on my part," she answered.

At that moment, the Captain stepped out of his office, a file in his hand, and closed the door behind him. He turned around, still engrossed in whatever he was reading as he walked towards them. After a few moments, Esposito cleared his throat. Montgomery looked at him, raising an eyebrow, before turning his eyes to the rest of them. His eyes darted from face-to-face briefly. When he saw Ellie, a wide smile formed on his lips.

"Ellie!" he exclaimed. The younger woman grinned at him.

"Permission to hug, sir?" she asked, holding her arms up dramatically.

"What am I, a Navy Lieutenant? Get over here, crazy girl!" Montgomery bellowed, much to Castle's amusement. He enveloped the younger woman in a bear hug, "It's good to see you."

Castle heard a tiny gasp escape his partner's mouth.

"Shut the front door!" Beckett suddenly exclaimed, jumping forward and latching onto her cousin's left hand. Both the Captain and Ellie looked a little shocked, "What is this?"

They all looked down at Ellie's hand to find the source of her shock. One the ring finger of her left hand was a shiny engagement ring.

"A roller skate?" Ellie answered, looking up from her hand sheepishly to meet her older cousin's eyes. Castle wondered how she managed to keep a straight face while saying that. Beckett rolled her eyes at her cousin, messing with the silver band with a diamond on the ring finger of the hand she'd snatched.

"Why on Earth did I not know about this?" Beckett asked. Ellie chuckled.

"Ease up, Katie," she said reassuringly, "it just happened. Why do you think I came here early?"

Beckett raised an eyebrow and regarded her cousin with much suspicion, to which she responded with a sly smile.

Ellie spent the next hour catching up with the team, sitting in between Beckett and Esposito in the break room with Ryan across from her and Castle watching the entire exchange from the counter. Lanie eventually came up to join them, and the Captain left the refuge of his office to hear the younger woman talk.

The dynamics between the young girl and the team were clear, and somewhat similar to the dynamics between the team and Beckett herself. Except that Ellie held no authority over any of them, and they all seemed to view her as the one in need of protection. But Ellie, it seemed, could handle herself just fine. She laughed at the antics of the two male detectives, who half-interrogated her about her future husband, whom they had apparently never met. She teased the boys, chatted with Lanie and asked the Captain about the welfare of his family.

Eventually the gang had to get back to their paperwork and dispersed to their different stations, agreeing to meet at the Old Haunt for drink the next night after Ellie had had a chance to settle in. Besides, Beckett had declared that night Family Night, all the while giving her younger cousin significant looks indicating that she had some explaining to do. Ellie seemed quite amused by this.

When the boys and the Captain returned to their work, Ellie, Castle and Beckett stayed in the break room with the food Castle had brought long ago. Luckily, he had bought a little extra today, so Ellie ate her cousin's fried rice and stole some of the egg rolls.

The manner with which she consumed the food confirmed a suspicion he'd had upon first seeing her. He only wondered at what Beckett's reaction would be to this news. Ellie was, after all, only twenty-four. She was at the start of her career.

A career that, with much amusement, he realized that Ellie was also, in a way, Beckett's boss, since she was the new assistant district attorney of New York City.

There were some fun similarities in mannerisms between the cousins, Castle realized as he watched them together. When they didn't quite understand something, their brow's crinkled on one side in the exact same fashion. Ellie talked with her hands much more, spoke with much more pronounced English and enunciated her words, probably a product of her law school education. It was clear that Ellie took great joy in laughter, and managed to make Beckett laugh nearly as much as she did.

It was amazing, to see this little part of Kate Beckett that she usually hid. A softer, more carefree side. To see someone who could dish it out as well as she herself could. Both Ellie and Beckett tried to include him in the conversation and Beckett seemed pleased at how he and Ellie got along.

Ellie dismissed herself in order to go settle in, Beckett handing her an extra key to her apartment. She promised to be back in a couple of hours, as it was already a little after six.

Two hours and fifteen minutes later, paperwork mostly finished, Beckett bid her coworkers and partner goodnight and departed. When she got home, she found Ellie stretched out on her couch, eyes closed, Heat Wave perched just below her neck. Her right arm was flung up over her head, and her left folded neatly over her stomach. Beckett chuckled.

She remembered when Ellie was little, how she used to follow her around the house, go with her to hang out with her friends, and try to impress them. Maybe that's why she didn't fight having Castle follow her around as much as she could have, because she was used to having a shadow. Ellie, though, was closer to a Mini-me. She'd imitated both her good and bad habits, the latter was something Beckett now regretted. Yet, in the end, Ellie turned out far better than herself.

Ellie's father, Uncle David, was her mother's younger brother. He'd died in a car crash when Ellie was only a baby, leaving her at the mercy of Aunt Lily, her flighty mother, and Melinda, her neurotic grandmother.

Ellie bore it well, of course. Stubborn and strong, passionate and confident, Ellie never once strayed. It was one of the things Beckett admired most about her: She knew exactly who she was, and no matter how people tried, they could not convince her otherwise.

Beckett's mother, whom Ellie affectionately referred to as, 'Aunt Jo,' played a key role in Ellie's life as well. While she never really got along with her brother's widow, she loved Ellie second only to Kate herself. It was Johanna that helped her learn how to tie her shoe, how to read, and gave Ellie her first Jane Austen book on her twelfth birthday, the last birthday she had before Johanna died. She's also given her a small heart-shaped pendant made of amethyst on a silver chain, which she could still be caught wearing sometimes.

"I'm so glad to be here, Katie," Ellie said, breaking Beckett from her train of thought. She sat up, setting Heat Wave on the coffee table and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I'm glad you're here, too," she said, and then grinned, "The boys really missed you."

"Just the boys, huh?" Ellie laughed. She stretched, and then pulled her knees up to her chest, grinning all the while, "Well, I'm glad I finally got to meet the Richard Castle, at last."

Here we go. It was to only be expected. Lanie talked to Ellie nearly as often as she did. Beckett stared at her cousin, opening and closing her mouth as she contemplated how to respond. Finally, she settled on:

"Shut up."

Ellie rolled her eyes.

"What? Katie, it's no secret we were fans of his books long before you met the real thing…" she paused, chewing on her top lip as she mused, "at the precinct today, the fan girl in me was doing cartwheels when I started talking to him…"

"What did you say to him earlier anyway?"

"Just confused him is all. You're right, he's quite fun to tease. Except my teasing didn't involve images of me straddling things in tight black leather."

"I really need to stop telling you about these things…"

"Yet, you won't. You know I'd never use it against you in public…well, at least not in English, anyway." Ellie, like her, was multi-lingual. She spoke four languages other than English: Russian, Greek, Chinese and Spanish. Linguistics had been a hobby of her father's, the knack for which she'd inherited, so her father had taught her when she was very small.

"That's comforting, it really is."

Ellie smiled as she leaned back on the couch pillows.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" she asked.

"I was thinking…" Beckett said, turning around and walking towards her kitchen table. She picked up a rented DVD she had picked up two days ago in case Ellie decided to pull something like this, "…a Temptation Lane Marathon…" She held out the DVD to Ellie for emphasis, and then walked towards her refrigerator, "along with some rocky road ice cream…"

Ellie's entire face lit up.

"Have I told you you're my favorite person, ever?"

Beckett grinned.

"Not lately, no."

"Well, you are."

Beckett rolled her eyes. She grabbed the ice cream from the freezer and then turned, opening up the drawer across from the refrigerator to get spoons.

"Jared will be very disappointed to hear it…"

Jared Hart was Ellie's childhood best friend. He lived a few doors down from Beckett and her parents when she was younger. And since Ellie spent lots of time there, she got to know all the neighborhood kids. But Jared stuck by her almost exclusively throughout most of their lives. Still, Ellie took far longer to understand how she felt about him. It wasn't until two years ago, when Jared was offered a job in L.A. that Ellie truly realized what he meant to her.

Beckett chuckled to herself, remembering Ellie's not so conventional confession in the airport right before he left. They were never particularly good for timing. Something she and Ellie had in common, her young cousin had mused during her visit the summer before.

Ellie propped her head up on the back of the couch, watching her cousin.

"There's one more thing I haven't told you though…" she said quietly.

"About Jared?" Beckett asked, somewhat distracted, by thoughts of the lonely summer the year before, "Yeah, when did he propose?"

"Three days ago…" Ellie admitted, hesitation clear on her face, but Beckett wasn't looking at her. She took a breath before she continued, "…about the same time I found out I'm pregnant…"

Beckett paused where she was, holding two spoons in her hand, and turned to face Ellie.

"You're—what?"

Ellie bit her lip and shook her head.

"It was a lot sooner than we'd intended…accident, rather," she admitted, "… But a happy one…you're not upset you're going to be an aunt so soon, are you?"

Ellie looked so worried, that Beckett felt horrible for what she was sure was a discouraging expression on her face. She set the spoons down and walked over to the couch, gripping Ellie's hand in hers.

"Of course not," she reassured her, "just a little shocked." She chuckled, "I mean, the fact that you're engaged before me is weird enough…" Ellie released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She flashed her cousin a bright, tearful smile.

"Ready to be a maid of honor?" she asked. Beckett's eyebrows nearly met her hairline as she heard that. She asked:

"Really?"

"Who else would I choose, Katie, honestly?" berated Ellie. Beckett thought for a moment, lining up at least three other possible options, two of which were Ellie's future sisters-in-law. But Ellie looked completely certain, as if it would be absurd to choose anyone else.

"I'd be happy to."

Ellie looked down at the DVD box in her lap. Curiosity soon became surprise. She looked back up to her cousin.

"Temptation Lane season 6?" she asked, "…wow, that's a really long time ago…and random…what made you choose this one?"

Beckett grinned.

"Prepare to meet Martha Rogers…" said she. Ellie's eyes widened.

"Castle's mom!" she exclaimed, "She was in this?"

"Only this season."

"Ooh, let's put it in…"

Three hours later, the two of them had collapsed on Beckett's couch in a fit of laughter, finished the carton of rocky road, and were watching Castle's drama queen mother run across the screen time and time again from a bear.

"I can definitely see where Castle gets his melodramatic tendencies…" Beckett mused. Ellie wiped the tears of laughter away from her eyes.

"But that was so awesome!" she exclaimed, and then buried her face in a couch pillow as she burst out laughing again. Beckett shook her head and chuckled at this display, reaching for the remote as the episode ended.

"I know, right?"

"How did we never see these? These are even more fun to watch than the other ones," Ellie said, shaking her head. She leaned back and laid her head on the pillow in her cousin's lap.

"I'm going to have such a hard time getting that image out of my head the next time I actually talk to Martha. Wonder if they've ever watched these episodes…" Beckett mused. Ellie looked up at her, mischief in her eyes. She sat up, tipping her head to one side and grinning.

"You really do know his family well, don't you?" she asked. Beckett glared at her.

"You know, you've only been here a few hours and have already nagged me about Castle twice…" she mumbled grumpily, "you're worse than Lanie, you know that?"

"Shut the front door!" Ellie did her best Beckett impression, earning a smile from her cousin, "I have not yet begun to nag, my dear cousin!"

"You're ridiculous!"

"Ha!" Ellie chortled, "You're the one with a stripper name who somehow manages to end up naked on the cover of his books every time!"

"Demon child, shut up!" Beckett answered, following her statement of annoyance with a pillow thump on her cousin's head, "You know that's not actually me!"

"Yeah…because that would really give Writer-Boy a heart attack…"

"Ellie!"

"_Verbal masturbation_!" she said in a sing-song voice. Beckett hit her with the pillow again, "Oh, come on, Natalie Rhodes is a woman who earns a living faking it, and she saw right through you! It's hilarious!"

Beckett's expression turned sour.

"You know, better than anyone, what happens when I give in to my feelings for Castle…"

Ellie rolled her eyes.

"Umm…you stick your tongue down his throat and then kick a guard in the head?"

Beckett nudged her.

"Shush!"

"_Amazing_!" Ellie mocked playfully.

"I am seriously going to shoot you…" Beckett muttered, "Or myself, it's a toss-up…"

Ellie laughed lightly, but grabbed her cousin's arm with a serious expression.

"Katie, all I know is that I've never seen any man give you that look in your eyes."

"What look is that exactly?" Beckett asked, exasperated. Ellie tilted her head to the side, obviously trying to figure out how to word her answer.

"Implicit trust," she said after a moment, "Fire…and I quote: 'You want to have little Castle babies…'"

"That's what my look says?" Beckett said, trying not to laugh as she remembered her old friend Maddie's words in the interrogation room she'd dragged her into in the middle of hers and Castle's date. How she'd accused her of breaking up the date because she herself wanted Castle.

"Well, it also says, 'You talk too much,'" Ellie added.

Beckett burst out laughing.

"You, little one, are insufferable…" she said, ruffling Ellie's curly brown locks. Ellie grinned and slapped her hand away.

"Yet, you love me anyway…" she informed her. Beckett laughed.

"Yeah, yeah…" she muttered.

Two more hours of Temptation Lane and Ellie was sound asleep on Beckett's couch. Tugging a blanket over her, Beckett left her cousin in her living room.

"Night, crazy person..."

* * *

><p>Ellie had been there a total of nine days now. She'd stopped in at the precinct nearly every lunch time since she'd arrived, even after her final arrangements had been made at her new job and she stopped in to meet her boss in person. On the first day after she'd arrived, she'd gotten food for everyone, only to discover that Castle himself already had everything covered, including her own meal. She learned after that, calling her cousin before she arrived, just to make sure.<p>

Castle was usually gone when she first arrived, sometimes with Katie, but most of the time getting them food. Evidently, he'd asked her cousin what sort of food she liked, because her favorites were always placed in front of her, regardless of whether or not she'd been there when he'd taken everyone's orders.

That day, Castle brought them all deli sandwiches, including Ellie's favorite pesto sandwich. Normally, they'd all just drink what they had in the break room, but the fancy espresso maker had broken down earlier in the day, so Castle had made a caffeine run, too.

He came back to the precinct, handing over coffee to both the boys, and then one to Beckett. He turned to Ellie, who was happily munching on her sandwich.

"And I have one for you as well…"

Beckett laid a hand on his arm to stop him from handing Ellie her cup.

"Actually," she said, grinning at Ellie, "she'll be laying off the caffeine for a while…"

It was a simple enough statement, but everyone in the room instantly understood.

He didn't know whose face was more priceless: Esposito, usually entirely calm in the face of all sorts of surprises, who choked on his coffee, and coughed and sputtered for a good minute, or Ryan, whose eyes looked as if they were about to bulge out of his head and jaw dropped open. And then there was Ellie's near double-take as she already reached out towards Castle for whatever he had gotten for her.

"Katie!" Ellie exclaimed in exasperation once she recovered. Esposito's eyes were watery from his coughing fit, and he and Ryan came to stand near her. Castle merely grinned.

"Oh, I know," he said smugly, "Don't worry. Hers is actually hot chocolate."

Beckett looked at her cousin in mild annoyance.

"You told him that first?" she whined. But Ellie was looking at Castle in confusion.

"I didn't tell him at all…" she said. He merely grinned, "How did you…?"

"I am a father, Ellie," he said, grinning as if that explained everything, "I do know the glow of a woman with child…"

A crease formed between Ellie's eyebrows and she looked down at her torso. She touched her stomach lightly and frowned.

"Are you sure it's not my hips…" she mumbled, "The awful things are already getting wider…"

Castle dipped his head and held out her hot chocolate.

"Your hips are perfectly lovely, Eleanor," he said in his most charming fashion. She tried to glare at him, but instead found herself laughing.

"Normally, I wouldn't let you get away with using my full name…" Ellie told him, "but you used it with a compliment and brought me hot chocolate, so I think I can let it slide."

Beckett watched the two interact approvingly.

"So I guess we should say congratulations, Ells," Ryan said. She grinned at him, stepping closer so he could hug her. Esposito followed soon after, cupping her face in his hand affectionately.

"You want us to talk to your boy?"

"Don't worry, he'll make an honest woman of me, Javi. But thank you for playing overprotective big brother, you old softie."

Esposito couldn't seem to decide whether or not to talk Ellie's words as sarcasm or a genuine compliment. But she smiled at him, nudging his side with her elbow as he kept an arm around her shoulders. Castle snickered. The homicide detective fixed a stone-cold glare at him.

"Shut up."

_**A/N: Okay, so who was not crying a lot during that season finale? I mean, I knew someone was going to die, and I figured it'd be him, but I guess I never figured he'd be dying to save Beckett. I mean, come on! So many tears. Also, did anyone notice? Beckett could have taken down Castle in an instant as he was carrying her out of that hangar, but she didn't. Which is what Montgomery was counting on, obviously. Still really depressing…anyway, another author's note is that I've decided to change my original ending thought to this story and incorporate it with the season finale and the last two episodes. And this will include the other ending…where Beckett gets shot and Castle tells her that he loves her. Anyway, before that, there will be more blunt, meddlesome cousin and Ellie getting Beckett to relax and have fun a little.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Okay, so I'm going to add some more Beckett/Ellie bonding, coupled with some Ellie/Castle bonding. I really like the concept of an entire family getting involved in a relationship, especially a non-relationship like theirs. Plus, there will be a meeting of Ellie and the dreaded Dr. Motorcycle Boy…Ellie's fiancé/baby daddy will get here soon, too, though probably in the next chapter rather than this one…Anyway, enjoy!**_

Weeks passed by quickly as Beckett and Ellie fell into rhythm with the entanglements of their daily lives. Ellie had started her job only a few days after she'd arrived, and was scouring New York City for an apartment that would fit both hers and her fiancé's criteria. Beckett helped as much as she could, but with a job as inconsistently busy as hers was, this was difficult.

On nights she would have usually gone home and curled up with a book, she invited Ellie to bond with her friends. Ellie enjoyed listening to Montgomery's stories about his wife and children. Esposito and Ryan continued their big brother routine, Lanie would fill her in on the gossip of the day, and Castle would weave exciting and somewhat exaggerated tales of his and Beckett's adventures for the day. Beckett merely rolled her eyes at him when he did, but Ellie could tell she secretly liked it. She found that she liked Castle even more in person than she did on paper, and that, she thought, was saying something. And even more than that, she enjoyed observing the unmistakable trust and comfort between him and her ridiculously guarded surrogate sister.

Katie was not the most trusting of the people she loved. In fact, she was easily the most complicated person Ellie had ever known. Ellie knew that Katie loved her, and trusted her, but only to a certain extent. For instance, when they talked about Johanna, they focused on the happy memories. Until she'd seen the murder board Katie started building last summer, she'd never known all that much about her aunt's death. To see it laid out in front of her that way had brought tears to her eyes, tears that she'd hidden the moment Katie turned back to face her, because, like she had when she was a child, she wanted to prove she was strong enough. Katie faced the board with the same determined, hollow look that usually dominated her expression when the subject of Aunt Jo's death came up.

Cases came and went. Castle's friend was accused of murder, and it had brought tension between her cousin and her partner. Castle's obvious devastation at the betrayal of his friend had softened Katie's initial anger, so much so that she dragged him back to her apartment and the three of them had had an X-Men marathon. At Katie's side, Castle brightened up.

Ellie could tell he liked to observe Katie and herself, particularly when they spoke to each other in ways that only they would understand. Peeling back the many layers of who Kate Beckett was, is, and would be, he hung on to every little hint, every story that Ellie would tell to annoy her cousin, or just because she thought Richard Castle's puppy dog face was completely adorable. Katie thought so, too, she could tell that much. But for all his obvious observations, it was amazing how much he didn't see in the way her cousin looked at him. It was also unfathomable how Katie could deny how Castle felt about her.

When she'd first arrived in New York, Josh, Katie's do-gooder boyfriend was off in some third world country saving lives. He didn't return until she had been there a little over a month, when Ellie's separation from her own love was practically killing her. But soon after that first trip, he broke the news again to Katie that he was leaving once more, leaving their relationship strained and of undetermined status. Katie was obviously upset, and Ellie contemplated her cousin's frustration with much annoyance. Katie's supposed safe choice was evidently not so safe after all, and she wondered why she was dragging it out so.

A case of Katie's had her distracted for the time being. Something big was going down, and although Katie refused to tell her exactly what it was, she knew from her tone of voice that when she told her to get out of town for the weekend that there was absolutely no argument to be made. So she drove back to Phillie to spend the weekend with Jared and his sister, worrying all the while what her cousin was up to back in New York. Jared by her side made everything calmer, but she still couldn't help the twisted, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that Kate was in over her head.

But, on Saturday, Katie called, saying things were all clear and telling her that Castle said hello, all the while a chuckle in her tone that Ellie didn't understand, but was grateful for nonetheless. A chuckle meant that all was well and she was okay, which, by her standards, set the world back up straight. She kissed Jared good-bye and left, arriving just after ten o'clock. She was just stepping in the door when her phone went off.

"Hey there!" Katie's voice came over the line of the phone, breathless, and in a tone Ellie couldn't quite decipher, "So, I hope you don't mind, but Josh is coming over, and I was hoping the three of us could hang out, eat some take-out or something tonight. Sound okay?" Ellie wrinkled her nose as she answered.

"Sure, I just got back. I'll be here," she replied, tapping on her nose with the forefinger of her left hand and crossing her eyes. She didn't know why she felt the need to do it. Although, now that she thought about it, Jared always said she made really funny faces when she was annoyed. On top of that, her hormones were so unbalanced it was a wonder she hadn't snapped at some point. She'd always thought the hormone part of pregnancy was an exaggeration, that a woman should be able to control herself, even with an excessive amount of hormones buzzing through her system. She was discovering, much to her disdain, that this was not the case.

Frowning contemplatively, she wondered if she would have been this annoyed had Katie invited Castle over.

Twenty minutes later, when Katie made an appearance at her front door, Ellie nearly knocked her over in a bear hug. She pushed Katie off balance with her enthusiasm, but the detective gained her footing quickly.

"I'm okay," she whispered reassuringly, pulling back. She studied Ellie's face, her watery eyes and brushed her wavy hair back over her shoulder, behind her ear, "How are you feeling?"

"Unstable…" Ellie mumbled sheepishly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ellie," she answered, "I promise."

"I trust you…now, where is Dr. Motorcycle Boy?"

"You have been spending way too much time with Castle," Katie murmured, rolling her eyes. A moment later, Josh appeared in the doorway.

"Ellie, I'd like you to meet Dr. Josh Davidson. Josh, I'd like you to meet my cousin, Ellie…" she introduced the two of them. Ellie put on her most warm smile as she shook the doctor's hand.

"Nice to finally meet you, I've heard so much about you."

He was certainly handsome, she thought, strong-jawed, the alpha male sort she knew Katie preferred. Though she didn't understand why, since Katie herself was considered an alpha female. His eyes were warm and compassionate, which she like, but there was something about his overall air that she couldn't quite understand, something not really bad, but not good either. But she greeted him with as much sincerity as she could muster.

Josh was nice, she decided, though a more selfish part of her wanted to tell him to go away so she could hang out with her cousin alone. But luckily, she could hear Jared's voice in her head, soothing her frayed nerves and telling her to be nice. She wondered if Katie was able to pick up on her mood. She sat down at Katie's table with Josh and her cousin, eating the food that they had brought. Conversation was light-hearted to compensate for the insane day that Josh seemed to have taken part in. According to Katie, he saved both hers and Castle's lives.

She watched Josh carefully when the topic of Castle came up, gauging his expression for any malice. When Katie spoke Castle's name, Ellie caught the tension scrunching up his shoulders. After dinner, Katie and Josh decided to head for bed. Ellie bid them goodnight, receiving a kiss on the forehead from her cousin and a friendly wave from Josh as they disappeared into Katie's bedroom.

Ellie could not believe it. Evidently, even after all she and Castle had been through that day, Katie had chosen Josh to spend the night with. She didn't care if it was irrational…she knew Katie was more guarded with Castle than she was with anyone, but at the same time, he knew her better than anyone ever had. It was a strange conundrum, how she managed to hold him so close, yet still at arms' length. Yet, it was also amazing how Katie knew how to give up just enough of herself to make Josh think he was getting the whole thing. How bloody ridiculous Katie was being.

It was with this thought in mind that Ellie plotted. After Katie and Josh left, she grabbed her keys, threw on her coat, and dashed out of the apartment, all the while with Jared's voice in the back of her mind telling her not to interfere, that it was not her problem. She contemplated calling him to make her stop, but decided in the end over all rationality that she didn't care if it wasn't her place to interfere. She was determined to help at least one of them see their idiocy. She gave the cab driver the address written by Castle's name in her cousin's address book, and headed towards the Castle loft against all reasoning.

Meanwhile, earlier in the night, Castle has settled in with his loft with his daughter. While he had told both his mother and Alexis to stay in the Hamptons for the weekend, Alexis was too anxious to be able to bear the thought of him being by himself. He had only been home for the precinct for about half an hour, when the petite red-head rushed through the front door and straight into his arms. The instant she hugged him, all the tension and pain of the day melted almost entirely. Soon they were cuddled together on the couch, watching one of Alexis' favorite science fiction movies, Serenity. Martha decided to retire part of the way through it, kissed her son and granddaughter goodnight and went upstairs to bed. Alexis stayed curled up into his side, head on his chest right under his chin. Occasionally, she felt the arm around her tighten, only to loosen up slightly a few moments later. She figured he needed the contact, but also worried about him. The lines on his face seemed more apparent than usual. He looked older.

After the movie was over, she knew her dad wasn't quite ready to let her go anywhere yet. So she suggested ice cream sundaes. A twinkle shone in his eyes at this suggestion, though she noticed that he shivered. When she asked him about it, he told her that, while he'd been out of the freezer for a very long time, he still felt sort of cold. Like the chill had seeped into his bones. She hesitated in pulling out the ice cream, but he just shook his head, smiling at her.

"Ice cream sounds perfect, pumpkin."

"Hmm," she mumbled somewhat skeptically, but conceded and started pulling out things for sundaes. She scooped out chunks of both chocolate and vanilla ice cream into separate bowls. She poured chocolate syrup over them, followed by sprinkles and whipped cream. She grabbed a couple spoons and went around to the other side of the island and handing one of the bowls to her dad. She took a bite of ice cream and cocked her head to the side as she watched him do the same, "It just seems strange to eat ice cream after what you just told me."

"There is never a bad time for ice cream," he replied simply. Alexis raised and eyebrows, and chuckled as he took a giant bite of ice cream, and then freaked out about how cold it was.

"Daddy?" she asked quietly. He looked up at her, "Are you sure you're okay?"

He looked up at Alexis, at her concerned eyes, eyes that should belong to a woman much older than herself. He observed the slight crease between her eyebrows, and how she was pursing her lips. Reaching out, he took her small hand in his and forced a smile.

"It's been a long day," he admitted, and sighed, "I'm fine, pumpkin." Alexis eyed him skeptically, and opened his mouth to retort, when someone knocked on the door. They both turned towards it in surprise.

"Are you expecting…"

"No. Who…" He got up and walked towards the door. Glancing through the peephole, he was surprised at who he saw. He unchained the door and opened it. Ellie Murphy strode past him and into his living room.

"Eleanor," he greeted as cheerfully as he could manage, "To what do I owe the—"

"Oh, no, don't start that," she cut his greeting short, hands propping up on her hips. Castle closed the door and turned to her, taken aback by her brisk, determined expression. She took a deep breath before she began talking, "Okay, let me start off by saying that I know today was a completely awful day. And I know that I owe you so much for saving Katie's life—I don't even want to know how many times—but I can't help but worry what kind of toll it's going to take on your relationship with her to watch her walk away with Doctor what's-his-name…"

"Ellie—"he tried to interject, both for the sake of his dignity, and also for hers, but she cut him off once more.

"No. No, let me talk," she cut him off and resumed her rant, "I know it's hard and I know that it's bloody heart-breaking, but I swear to you, Richard Castle, that if you pull that bowing-out-gracefully-crap you pulled last summer again, I will seriously bludgeon you own hardcover Nikki Heat novels…" She stopped, leaving Castle to digest what she had just said. He stared at her blankly, dumbstruck in his own living room as she dropped her hands from her hips.

All of the sudden, Ellie's attention was drawn by a soft, but slightly hysterical giggling from the kitchen of the loft. She looked towards the sound in confusion, and saw Alexis sitting at the island. Much to both Alexis and her father's amusement, she let out an undignified squeak and clamped her hand over her mouth as her face transitioned three shades of red. Castle couldn't contain his laughter at this reaction.

"Ellie, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Alexis Castle."

Ellie shook her head in mortification and managed to look at her.

"Hi, Alexis, I'm Ellie Murphy, Katie's insanely hormonal and embarrassed cousin," she mumbled, covering her face.

"Don't worry about it, I've never heard a funnier threat in my life," Alexis replied, jumped down from the stool and walked over, extending her hand. Ellie let out a breathless laugh, running a hand through her dark hair as she shook her head.

"I'm going to plead pregnancy hormones," she admitted sheepishly, "That and the fact that Katie nearly died today. And then Doctor Motorcycle Boy sort of stole her away tonight. Plus, I have no Jared to make me calm now, so you can say I'm a little…"

"Off?" Castle offered helpfully. He came to stand at her side and gently slinked an arm around her narrow shoulders, "Has anyone ever told you you're a little crazy?" Ellie turned her face towards him and smiled.

"Dad!" Alexis complained reproachfully.

"Oh, no, it's okay, honey," Ellie answered, patting her hand reassuringly, "I consider it an off day when I don't get called crazy at least once." She chuckled, and shook her head shamefully, "I especially consider it justified when I burst into someone's apartment after ten, intent on screaming out-of-context psychobabble at them…" Castle raised an eyebrow.

"You could try putting the psychobabble in context," he told her hopefully. She rolled her eyes at his attempt.

"Not to go all River Song on you, Rick, but…spoilers..." The last word was spoken in a sing-song voice. Castle searched his mind for a connection to that name and reference. Alexis got to it quicker.

"No way!" she exclaimed, "Doctor Who!"

"You understood that?" Ellie asked, surprised, then started laughing, "Katie's right, you're a girl after my own heart…no wonder she loves you so much…"

"Glad to see you two get along," Castle mused.

"Not exactly the first impression I was going for, but it'll have to do now that she already knows I'm crazy..."

"I figured that out instantly."

"You just thought I was some weird, mysterious female playing Angry Birds in the lobby of the twelfth."

"A very beautiful, weird and mysterious female."

"Don't try to charm your way out of this, I doubt you notice any woman's beauty other than Katie's; though you may have noticed from an objective standpoint because she and I have similar bone structures…" Ellie mused. As Castle frowned at her, she rolled her eyes, "I better be getting home."

"Are you sure?" Alexis asked, nudging her father. Castle came back to reality.

"Yes, come on, Ellie, at least eat some ice cream with us," he urged. Ellie smiled, looking back and forth between the two.

"Now that I've embarrassed myself sufficiently for the night, I think it's best that I get some sleep…"

"Alright. Goodnight, Eleanor."

"Good night, Rick," she said gently, kissing his cheek. She hugged Alexis, much to the teen's surprise. At least, until Ellie whispered in her ear, "He puts up a brave front, but he needs you right now. Take care of him, you've got an incredible dad there." She pulled back, and Alexis smiled up at her.

"It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Ellie answered. She headed towards the front door. Just before she got there, she stopped, turning back and looking him straight in the eye as she spoke words he didn't understand.

"What does that mean?"

Ellie winked. She turned her back and just before she closed the door, she answered him.

"I said that I'm rooting for you!"

_**A/N: For the record, I'm confusing myself on how Ellie's relationship with Jared began, because earlier I said that he got a job offer in L.A. and then for some reason sent Ellie to Philadelphia when Beckett and Castle were looking for the dirty bomb. The story I decided on is that Ellie was going to Columbia when she first started law school, and then Jared asked her to move with him to California. Beckett's going to explain this in more detail later on in the story, but I decided that Philadelphia is the place where Jared's sister lives and he was visiting her at the time of the bomb incident.**_


	4. Author's Note

_**A/N:**_

_** First of all, I have to say I am whole-heartedly sorry to my readers for not finishing this story. I have this annoying habit of not completing my **_

_**writing, and I'm even worse when life is going well. For once, I found myself living in a world that was far better than I had ever imagined, and I **_

_**imagined a great deal, so I have not felt the need to slip into my fantasy world. I still feel this way, but I do rather hate an unfinished fanfiction, **_

_**especially my own. On top of the worldly distractions, I also had my computer stolen with my original story, so I've had to work with the notes that I**_

_** already had in order to continue. I am going to be adding this note as a chapter, followed by an actual chapter and finish my story as soon as possible.**_

_** Again, I am so sorry for not updating for so long.**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Haha, so after a personal experience, I've figured out that a whole family being involved in a relationship isn't nearly as fun a concept when it's you being interfered with. At least in my case. But, as such, in the case of non-relationships such like Castle's and Beckett's you have to admit, it's necessary. So while my perspective has recently changed on a personal front, my intent hasn't…Ellie will do her absolute best to annoy some sense into her cousin.**_

When Castle returned to Beckett's side the next day, he forced himself to be his normal cheery, enthusiastic self, for which Beckett was thoroughly grateful. She'd gone to bed with guilt gnawing at her insides. She'd seen the raw pain in his eyes when he left her the night before, not to mention Ellie's obvious discomfort and annoyance at Josh's presence in her apartment. And then there was the guilt of her own pain when she watched Castle walk away from her, and her uneasiness at not wanting to be with Josh at all even after the day she'd just had.

Ellie was not at ease with Josh the way she was with Castle. To be honest, Ellie wasn't often truly at ease with most people. Jared had always been one she shared herself with completely, yet she'd still kept her heart from him for most of their friendship. There were times that Kate really hated how much Ellie emulated her. Especially since she'd seen the pure heartbreak on Ellie's face when she nearly lost Jared. But Ellie was braver, more open, and when she made a decision, she never took it back.

She had no idea why this train of thought invaded her mind all of the sudden, but she broke from it when Castle sat down next her again.

Ellie called her at noon, with a question about a case the D.A. was asking about, and Ryan and Esposito left soon after, leaving Beckett completely alone with her partner. She got up after a few moments to go to the bathroom, while Castle got them both refills on their coffee.

He put on a brave face, as he often did when Beckett put her guard up as she was doing right now. Ellie's confrontation had given him confidence, determination that he would win Beckett's heart eventually, but her withdrawn demeanor that morning had set him back, shaken him, so he went back to the sad, sulky mood he had been in when he went home the night before.

It never ceased to amaze him. When he returned, the twelfth homicide division was no longer empty.

There was a man there, young, probably late twenties, not far from Beckett's desk. He was young, good-looking, with suntanned skin, dark blonde nearly brown hair, and jade colored eyes. He looked up at Castle, and grinned.

"Hey," he greeted casually.

"Hi. Are you…looking for a homicide detective?" Castle greeted somewhat awkwardly, wondering why the young man was looking at him so ominously.

"Yeah. One in particular," the man admitted.

"Do you want me to go find them?" Castle asked, "Who are you looking for exactly?"

"You know her."

Before Castle could ask the man what he meant, Beckett returned. She took the mug of coffee out of Castle's hand automatically and strode towards her desk. When she saw the man standing next to it, she froze.

"Oh, my gosh…" Beckett mumbled. She set down her coffee on her desk and propped her hands up on her hips.

"Hi, Katie," the young man greeted her. Beckett shook her head, laughing as she dropped her hands from her hips and opened her arms to the young man. He grinned at her as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Hey! Jared, honey, I thought you were supposed to get here next week," Beckett exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Came a day early, in light of the circumstances," he admitted, "thought I'd surprise both of you."

"She'll be so happy," Beckett answered, looking up towards her partner, "Castle, come here."

"So this must be Ellie's Jared…" Castle said, finally understanding what was going on.

"Oh, I'm Ellie's, alright," Jared said, grinning again as he stuck out his hand for Castle to shake, "And you must be Rick Castle. I've heard a lot about you. And you would not believe how much Katie tal—ow…" Jared cut off mid-sentence as Beckett elbowed his ribs. He grunted, sending a half-hearted glare to his fiancé's cousin.

"So, I understand you are a music producer?" Castle jumped in conversationally. Jared grinned, puffing out his chest a bit, as if he knew Ellie had been singing his praises to Castle.

"I am, got a job here, well, just yesterday, actually," he admitted with another happy smile, "Haven't told Ellie it's official yet, so that's also going to surprise her."

"Does she handle surprises well?" Castle asked curiously.

Jared laughed. He reached up and touched the right side of his head. Castle noticed a little silver mark of raised skin. Jared ran his index finger over it.

"Mostly," he told Castle, chuckling to himself, "Though, never try that game, where you sneak up and cover her eyes and say, guess who…That never ends well." Castle looked at the scar again and decided not to ask. He'd seen first-hand Ellie's ferocity and passion. Like how Beckett looked in gun battle or an interrogation room.

Beckett laughed.

"Don't sneak up on her. She's stronger than she looks."

Beckett's phone rang. She picked it up quickly, smiling at Jared as she heard the voice on the other end. She handed him the phone without a word, and Castle knew who was on the other end. Jared walked away with her phone, talking in a low voice.

"She's not surprised. It takes a lot for her to be surprised," Beckett said to her partner, "It's difficult though, to distinguish between her surprised and excited voice. Both are extremely loud and high-pitched. That's Ellie for you…"

Jared came back with the phone two minutes later, pressing it back into Beckett's hand. He gave her another hug and shook Castle's hand.

"My lady sends me away, I will see you two later tonight."

"Tonight?" Castle and Beckett asked at the same time. Jared looked back over his shoulder and grinned. Beckett's phone started ringing.

"You should get that," he called as he walked away.

"Beckett."

"Invite Rick to dinner," said the voice on the other end.

"Excuse me?"

"Ask him to dinner."

"Ellie, what—why would I—"

"Ask him to dinner right now or I swear that the next time I see him, I will tell him about you moaning his name in your sleep two nights ago," Ellie threatened smugly.

Beckett felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her. Her mind flashed back to the not-so-G-rated dream about her partner the other night, the memory of which she had to fight to suppress every time he got a little too close to her. She swallowed thickly. Beside her, Castle gazed on in amusement as Beckett's jaw dropped. He wondered what Ellie was saying to her.

"You wouldn't…" Beckett mumbled into the phone, stomach churning.

"You really believe that?" replied Ellie.

Castle watched Beckett's expression turn sour and annoyed. And back in her apartment, Ellie took her cousin's silence as a sign of agreement.

"Ask him right now," she demanded, "while I'm still on the phone."

"Evil child…" Beckett mumbled, before glancing over at her partner, "Castle…do you have plans for dinner tonight?" He shook his head.

"No, what did you have in mind?"

"Ellie is making Jared and I dinner…" she told him, "and we were wondering if you would like to join us."

"Were you really wondering or did Ellie find a way to blackmail you?"

In the earpiece, she could hear her cousin burst out laughing.

"Good-bye, Ellie!" Beckett responded in annoyance. She closed her phone, glancing over at Castle in amusement. He grinned back at her, "She did…but I would like you to come. Jared is much better at keeping her in line, too…and has all the best embarrassing Ellie stories…."

"Payback time?"

"You got it."

"I am so in."


	6. Chapter 5

_**A/N: So I am trying desperately to be more consistent in updating my story, and I find I have missed writing, despite the fact that I write more when I am sad than when I am happy, which is what I've been for the last two years. Even so, here is the next chapter of my story, I hope you enjoy it.**_

After the day ended, Castle and Beckett drove to her apartment. As they were walking up to the door, Beckett laid a hand on his arm. He looked at her in confusion. Beckett smiled.

"Just to warn you, Ellie's cooking is…well, let's just leave it at colorful," she explained to him, "But her food is always amazing. Don't be scared." Castle laughed.

"I trust you."

Somehow, as Castle said those words, they turned from carefree and laughing to heartbreakingly serious. Beckett looked at him, lips slightly parted.

She remembered the look in his eyes before he pulled all those wires on the bomb. She remembered how his face looked when Josh came to get her after it was all over. The look on his face now was a mixture of those two: visible pain meets elated truth. There was a slight crease between his eyebrows, and she longed to reach out for him once more. It'd been happening like that more and more often lately. She'd see his face and long to hold him.

"Ellie wants to know if you two are done, ummm…making goo-goo eyes at each other."

Castle and Beckett jumped in surprise, turning to find Jared standing in the open doorway of Beckett's apartment.

"Don't kill the messenger; I'm just marrying her…"

Beckett regained her composure long enough to laugh at this, and she stepped into her apartment, followed by Castle. The most wondrous aromas assaulted their noses as they entered the room. Ellie was busy clattering away in the kitchen. Jared returned to her side. She directed him from one thing to another and another. They moved around each other in perfect harmony. It was like watching a dance.

Castle took the opportunity to watch them together as they finished preparing dinner. Ellie's hair tumbled out of the sloppy bun on top of her head. Jared came up behind her and pulled the stray strands back up. Then he ran his hands over her shoulders and placed a single kiss behind her ear. He whispered something and Ellie laughed. Their love was written so clearly on both of their faces, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Castle turned to say something to Beckett about it, but she was already looking. She smiled softly, but he could see there was a clear longing in her eyes. Longing for a love as pure as the one she was witnessing. Or so it seemed to him. Beckett, when she saw Ellie with Jared, she knew that was the kind of love to stride for, and the way Jared looked at her cousin, sometimes Castle looked at her the same way.

"Dinner is served!" Ellie's proud declaration brought Castle and Beckett from their own thoughts. Beckett was right about Ellie's cooking being colorful. She mixed a plethora of odd ingredients that Castle would have never considered putting together, but when he mustered up the courage to try it, he was glad that he did. Ellie was an artist.

Dinner was filled with warm, bubbling conversation. Beckett, as promised, shared a few of Ellie's more embarrassing moments, including an incident where she ripped her pants during a dance concert during high school. Jared added in a few of his own stories, some of which included Kate. Castle learned a lot about who Beckett was when she was younger, before her mother died. Before she became the woman he worked side by side with every day. He learned that Beckett loved to figure skate when she was younger. She had also tried to learn to play the clarinet, but after an embarrassing mistake on stage at her first concert, she swore never to play again. Beckett's mother had been a lovely singer, and had even had a band in high school, much to her daughter's mortification. Her parents had met at one of her band's gigs and were inseparable from that moment on. When Beckett was a little girl, she had two china dolls, one named Sally and the other Molly. When Ellie was seven, her mother got them kicked out of their apartment and she lost all her toys, and Beckett gave Ellie all of her old toys. Beckett once got into a fight with a girl spreading rumors about her cousin's mother.

It was a very enjoyable night. Ellie excused herself to get desert later on that night, right after Jared finished telling his story about Beckett's horrendous hairdo in the eighth grade. Castle laughed like he hadn't in a long time, wiping the tears from his eyes as Beckett slumped against him, breathless from laughter. Ellie returned with the white chocolate cheesecake in hand and froze mid stride at what she saw.

For a moment, she found herself in the past. She watched Katie laughing at the bad joke Uncle Jim had made. Aunt Jo came around the corner and asked them what was so funny, but Katie was laughing too hard to. She saw a gentle, loving smile grace Aunt Jo's face. She put a hand on Ellie's shoulder and smiled, shaking her head at her daughter's hysteria.

"That girl's got a laugh like no one else in the world…"

The laugh she was referring to, Katie's real laugh, had disappeared along with her completely open heart once Aunt Jo was killed. She hadn't heard it since. It was lovely, musical, and completely uncontrollable. And for the first time in over a decade, she was hearing it again. As she realized this, Beckett looked up. The smile on her face faded and she got to her feet, touching Ellie's arm lightly.

Kate realized that Ellie was watching her, a look of wonderment on her face, and her eyes watery from tears.

"Ellie…What's wrong?" she whispered, a wrinkle between her eyebrows. Ellie smiled brightly, shaking her head.

"Nothing," she said, smiling softly and looking away from her slyly as she switched to Russian: "I just haven't heard you do that in a really long time." Beckett opened her mouth as if to object, but thought better of it and rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she reacted playfully. Ellie just smiled.

Before Castle left for the night, Ellie gave him a big hug. He was amused, though he didn't particularly understand why he was getting it. He bid them good night, and left.

Once he'd been gone for five minutes, Jared sat down on the couch next to Ellie and pulled her feet onto his lap.

"I like him," he declared.

"You like everyone," Ellie teased half-heartedly.

"Despite what you two think, liking people is not a crime," he responded.

"If it was, Katie would arrest you…"

"And then Ellie would break you out," Kate mused. Ellie tipped her head back to lay it on the arm of the couch. She closed her eyes and smiled softly.

"Nah, I'd leave him to rot."

"Hey," Jared objected.

"I'm beat. I'll leave you two to it. Night."

"Night, Katie. We love you."

"I love you guys, too," she called back over her shoulder, disappearing into her bedroom.

Jared slipped one arm under Ellie's knees and the other under her back. She clung to him, laying her head on his chest comfortably. He walked her into the guest bedroom and laid her on the bed gently. He turned back and closed the door. Jared took off his jeans and shirt and crawled into bed next to Ellie. She turned on her side and laid her head on his chest once more, as Jared wrapped his arms around her.

"You're going to interfere, aren't you?" he asked her, planting a kiss gently on her forehead.

"I hate unfulfilled romantic plotlines," Ellie mumbled, "You already know of my fangirly ways."

"Yes, love, but this is reality," Jared pointed out, "This is Katie. You know what she's been through."

"I denied my feelings for you way too long. We could have had even more time together. If she's not careful, she could lose him. Like I almost lost you."

Jared hugged her tighter.

"Oh, babe…"

"I'm not talking about some psycho weird conspiracy plan," Ellie continued, "I just want to give her a push in the right direction. Will you help me?"

"Of course, I will, crazy girl…"

Ellie smiled, reaching up and kissing him soundly.

"I love you…"

_**A/N: This was a cutesy chapter, I don't know how it got to be so fluffy but at least I'm writing again.**_


	7. Chapter 6

_**A/N: This chapter is going to be random.**_

"You are driving me crazy…"

Ellie looked up at her fiancée and glared.

She and Jared were at Katie's apartment. It was Ellie's day off, and Jared was not due to start his new job until the week after next. Ellie was pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table. Jared was sitting on the couch with a book in hand, trying to read, but found himself unable to concentrate with Ellie's current state of distress. He couldn't tell which was making her more crazy: wedding plans, pregnancy hormones or Katie and Rick's denial. The hormones were probably affecting both.

"I can't help it."

"Being crazy? Yeah, I know," Jared mumbled, staring at his book. Ellie walked up and smacked him upside the head, "Sorry." He set his book aside and reached out for her. He pulled her down onto his lap.

"I'm sorry, too…"

"What can I do?"

"Tell me that the weight I'm gaining does not make me look like a cow," she told him. He smiled, brushing her hair back out of her face tenderly. He pulled her face to his and gave her a long, sweet kiss.

"You look incredible," he whispered to her. Ellie smiled at him giddily, "Now, my diabolical mistress, what do you have in mind for Katie and Rick?"

"I don't know," Ellie responded, twisting a strand of her hair in front of her face, "All that keeps popping into my head are stupid things. Like locking them in a closet. Handcuffing them together…ridiculous stuff like that. Part of me thinks, it's not any of my business, but then I look at them and I just want to knock their freaking heads together!"

"Love, your hormones are making you exceptionally violent…"

"I know. I don't know why. I just seem to have a very low tolerance for things…" Ellie clung to him tightly and gritted her teeth, "I feel like I'm insane…"

"You're not insane," Jared reassured her, "Wait, wait, wait…we can use this to our advantage…"

"My insanity?" Ellie questioned in a confused manner.

"No," he told her, "well, yes. I mean, you can use your stress. Get Castle and Beckett to help you. Have some sort of freak out in front of them and they will both want to help you. Get them working together to help us."

"I'm with you," his fiancée replied contemplatively, "It would make them spend more time together outside of work…but how would that get them together?"

"We can come up with more concrete plans later on, but face it, Ells. We need help, and this would be like killing two birds with one stone…"

Ellie maintained her pensive expression for a few moments before answering him.

"Can I go all out in my fake freak-out?"

"Do you ever do anything any other way?"

Ellie grinned.

Jared called Beckett later that day in a huff, claiming that Ellie had gone mental and asking her to come home.

When Ellie set a goal, she accomplished it flawlessly. When she chose a part to play, she was a master of disguise. Ellie loved to dramatize, and had skills Martha Rodgers would envy. In the period it took for Jared to call Beckett, Ellie had spread out the entire span of research and paperwork for their wedding, their house-hunting and the baby books all over the floor, bed, and dresser in the room she and Jared were staying in. The room was small to begin with, so it looked as if a hurricane blew through. She changed into a dirty, stained, over-sized shirt and ratty pajama pants. She messed up her perfect hairdo, pulling her hair back into a hap-hazard bun on top of her head. Then she pulled random strands out of it, then ruffled her own hair to make it look wild. She splashed water on her face, effectively smudging her makeup. She planted herself amidst the scattered papers, and took a deep breath, readying herself for her upcoming performance.

When Beckett rushed into her apartment, Ellie was sitting in the middle of a hurricane rocking back and forth. Her icy eyes were wide and frantic like a wild animal, and she was disheveled like Beckett had never seen her before.

"Whoa," was Castle's very tactful greeting.

"Ellie?" Beckett began gently, ignoring her partner. Ellie didn't seem fazed, so Beckett squatted next to her. Suddenly Ellie grabbed her shoulders frantically, nearly knocking her cousin off her feet.

"Too much…there's the caterer and prescriptions and napkin rings and seating arrangements, and two bedroom, two bathrooms, three bedrooms, one and a freaking half bathrooms, followed by parades of different flavor cakes, do I want frosting or whipped cream, fruit or chocolate filling, talking about the types of diapers, baby safety hazards, and how to sanitize-"

"Ellie! You need to breathe…"

Ellie shuddered. Jared responded to her cue.

"She won't even let me help, I've been trying…"he lied easily.

"It'll all work out, babe," Ellie reacted mockingly, lowering her voice in an attempt to sound like her fiancée, "Fat lot of good he's done, he's so indecisive."

"You're nit-picking about unimportant details!" Jared exclaimed.

"I hardly think whether or not the napkin rings are pearl or eggshell is a minor detail!"

Jared rolled his eyes.

"Yes, because that is obviously a determining factor in our future," he spat back at her, "The whole entire world hangs in the balance because of napkin rings and half bathrooms. What the hell is a half bathroom anyway? Why would you only have half of a bathroom, what is the point?"

"The point is to have an extra bathroom for someone to use when the other one is occupied! How does this not make sense to you?"

She was had been looking to act desperate, and she had accidently come off as unhinged. Even so, it seemed to be working in her favor. She also admired the ease of her fake argument with Jared. He was incredible.

Their plan worked. Beckett looked up at her partner meaningfully. The exchanged glances, as if having a silent conversation, and came to some sort of conclusion.

"Okay, okay, we're going to help you. Right, Castle?"

Ellie had to fight the urge to grin. Beckett and Jared helped Ellie to her feet, and when she and Castle weren't looking, Jared and Ellie fist-bumped conspiratorially.

_**A/N: This is an extremely weird and cheesy chapter. I don't know where it came from, but obviously here it is. Hope you at least had fun with the weirdness.**_


	8. Chapter 7

_**A/N: So I'm glad that you guys liked my weirdness, and while I think it would be fun to write a closet scene, that doesn't really go with what I'm going for with this story.**_

Their plan worked just the way they wanted. They both felt at least a little bad about manipulating Kate and Rick, but they also knew that those two needed a reality check. Plus, the truth was, as much as Ellie and Jared hated to admit it, they were in over their heads. The pair set Castle and Beckett out on various tasks together. Once in a while, they would separate them, or one of them would pair up with a partner individually to complete their task. Most of the time, it was far more fun just to make them do things on their own. In the next two weeks, Beckett and Castle were assumed as a couple six times, offered wedding dress and tux fittings twice, and accosted by a very aggressive and majorly creepy real estate agent for an apartment fit for newlyweds with a baby on the way. Beckett was mildly offended by this part, vowing to never wear the outfit she was wearing that day. Ellie was highly amused, wishing she'd been there, proudly showing off the small bump her stomach was now forming into.

Ellie and Jared timed the wedding so it would be a year and a half from then, when their child was at least a year old. Ellie and Jared were both more well-off than Castle realized, Ellie having inherited money from her father and Jared's parents owned a chain of successful businesses all over the east coast and had trust funds for each of their children, four of them including Jared. Plus there was the fact that both Jared and Ellie had jobs that paid rather well.

The plans got made far quicker than Ellie anticipated, so often she had to dramatize a situation in order to keep the charade going. Jared and Ellie felt a little elated, less pressure on their shoulders. The more Beckett and Castle helped, the more they delved into preparations for their home and newborn child. The deeper they got into preparations, the less Ellie focused on getting Castle and Beckett together.

Tragedy struck once more. Royce was murdered, and Katie disappeared with Castle for a few days, against the express wishes of her superiors. She was worried, but did not know how to help her cousin. She was swamped with work, and hers and Jared's big engagement celebration was the week after.

Royce had been such a role model to Katie. After Aunt Jo died, Katie was unbelievably lost, determined, and not letting anybody in. Royce gave her a hand and pulled her out of the rabbit hole. Katie talked about him non-stop. She'd been young at the time, and it had taken her a while to realize that her cousin was in love with Royce. His betrayal had been a big blow to Katie's already sheltered heart, and she hated him for it. His death would most likely prove to uproot more of her cousin's dwindling supply of optimism.

The night Katie returned, Jared was out with some clients, and Ellie was sitting on the couch reading yet another baby book. She set it down instantly as Katie walked in. Her cousin looked ragged. She was wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt. Her hair hung down limply over her shoulders. Her eyes were tired, puffy and swollen. Her nose was slightly red. The sight of her pain just broke her heart.

Ellie took one step forward and wrapped her arms around Katie tightly. She felt her cousin lean on her, and her shoulder shaking as she let out some silent sobs. Ellie led her to the couch, speaking in her most reassuring tones that everything was going to be okay, and that it's okay to be sad that she lost him. Katie didn't fully break down. She never did in front of Ellie, always determined to be so strong. Even so, her resolve had been weakened. She cried quietly while Ellie stroked her hair. It took her thirty minutes to calm down completely.

"Sorry," she muttered sheepishly, sitting up and wiping away the remaining tears.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Beckett responded, sniffling in an unconvincing way.

"You know what you need?"

"What?"

"Pepperoni pizza, chocolate chip cookies, and Temptation Lane," Ellie replied. Beckett smiled for the first time since she got home.

They watched two episodes while they ate, re-watching the Martha Rodgers episodes which made them laugh endlessly. Kate started talking about L.A., about the movie doubles of Esposito and Ryan. She talked about a lot of weird moments, and all she had learned about Royce. She pulled out his letter, and handed it over. Ellie read it over and smiled.

"Gotta say…for all of his stupidity, the guy knows how to write a last letter…and he's right, you know…"

"It's not that simple, Ellie."

"Three words, Katie. Three words," Ellie exclaimed. Beckett rolled her eyes.

"Pot calling the kettle black," Kate retorted.

"Yes, but I got over it."

"I don't know how I feel about him…In L.A., there was this moment…where I wanted to take the plunge. I opened the door and…I missed him by seconds. It's what we do. Our timing is just…off."

"Royce was right. Life is short," Ellie said, "and you may not have as much time with him as you want…"

"There's too much at stake, Ells…"

"Coward," Ellie mumbled.

"Nag," Beckett retorted. Ellie smiled.

"I only want you to be happy."

"I know."

"You can't just not be with someone because it might be difficult," she whined, "Just like you can't be with someone just because it's convenient."

"Josh has nothing to do with this."

"Makes no sense."

That conversation left Ellie more determined than ever. It was time to get rid of the boyfriend. Originally, she'd intended to let Katie let Josh down easily, but it was time to plant the seed of doubt in his mind, since Castle was most definitely already occupying Kate's thoughts more than ever. She was afraid that no matter what happened, someone was going to be heartbroken. She was going to figure out how to get Katie and Rick together and happy if it was going to kill her.

_**A/N: I think I may make Ellie have a weird conversation with Josh next...who knows... ;)**_


	9. Chapter 8

_**Chapter Eight**_

_**A/N: So you guys asked for weirdness, and I've got a pretty good idea how to make it happen. Hehe, this should be fun. Also, how does everyone feel about that season finale? Though I did kind feel like doing a fan girl squeal, it still made me kind of mad because I felt that they did it wrong. Like they basically ruined them first.**_

Ellie decided that she would try to find Josh after her next doctor's appointment at the hospital. Her OB/GYN visited once every month, so Ellie scheduled her appointment for that day. She and Jared went, and then he left to go to work. Ellie still had time before she had to be in. She popped a piece of gum in her mouth and headed off the cardiology ward of the hospital. She asked the nurse at the desk if Joshua Davidson was working that day, then plopped down on a seat to wait for him. She pulled out her phone and began to play Angry Birds, only to realize with much amusement that she had done the exact same thing in order to talk to Castle when she met him for the first time.

Josh came out to greet her about five minutes later.

"Hey, Ellie, it's nice to see you."

"I was in the hospital, and thought I'd at least say hi and offer to buy you a coffee," Ellie told him. He smiled politely at her, uncertain of what to think.

"That would be great, thanks," he answered.

As the two of them walked down the hallway toward the cafeteria, they fell into an awkward, tense silence.

Josh did not know what to make of Ellie. He knew how much Kate loved her, and she seemed very nice, if not a little eccentric, but there was an air of subtle hostility in nearly everything she said to him. He didn't understand why. The other night, he'd seen her at the precinct with Kate and Castle. Castle and Ellie seemed to have a solid and familiar friendship, even though they'd known each other for the same amount of time.

Once the two of them were settled at a table with their coffee, Ellie was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Okay, here's what's what. I'm going to talk, be blunt even to the point of rudeness, but you're going to be a gentleman and listen nonetheless…"

Her candor took him aback. He blinked, taking in the serious, fierce expression on Ellie's pretty face. He'd seen a look similar to that on his girlfriend's face.

"Ummmm…"

"Good boy. Now, Josh, you are a very nice guy," Ellie began. Her eyebrows knitted together contemplatively, "Nice, but way too easy. Good to Katie, of course, but still…"

"Excuse me?"

Ellie rolled her eyes and laughed.

"I don't mean easy in a man slut sort of way," she backtracked, "I mean, that you're the easy choice. You don't question her, challenge her. Being with you is so easy, it's…never mind, that thought process was too mean. Even so, I'm going to talk to you like I've always wanted to talk to the characters in my shows who mess up the possibility of my favorite pairing."

She realized she'd drifted off into some sort of fan girl rant in the middle of that. It was ridiculous, really, for her insanity to be translated into real life. She desperately needed to stop watching so much television. Nonetheless, she needed to be straight with Josh. She wanted him to understand Kate, didn't want either of them to end up hurt.

"You definitely lost me somewhere in the middle of that," Josh responded, pulling her away from her mental rant.

His lack of understanding frustrated her. She heaved a dramatic sigh and shoved a wave that had fallen from her haphazard hair style behind her ear.

"I mean, that no matter what you think, or whatever bullshit you say to Katie," she responded, emphasizing each word that she said slowly hoping that he would start to understand her, "you don't have a permanent place in her life."

"I don't think that's for you to decide."

"It isn't. But all the signs are there."

"Signs?"

Subtly be damned, this guy was so dense…

"I know Katie," Ellie said, "She's…extraordinary. Also scared. But not scared of bad things happening. No, she expects that. When something good happens, that's when she runs scared. Clings to the first outwardly solid but truly fleeting thing she can find. Like you. You're the character in a show that everyone hates, and vents about it by killing you repeatedly in fan fiction. All the time."

Josh stayed silence for a long time. He studied her, like she was an odd puzzle he had no reasonable idea about how to solve. He stared with wide, unblinking brown eyes. After about a minute and a half of this, he finally responded.

"You…are a very odd and confusing person."

Ellie smiled wryly.

"I know."

"I understand that you care for your cousin," Josh told her, "But I'm not the bad guy here. I'm not going to hurt her."

"I'm not even sure if you guys can hurt each other. It's like…you are just in this for convenience. That's not what love is. Gees, you know, I came here to talk to you gently but it seems that pregnancy has made me even more blunt. I can't even help it. What can I say, subtly is not my strong point," Ellie huffed, "Before I was with Jared, I was subtle. I was sure that, if something was meant to happen, that it would just happen naturally. Yet, I had to almost lose him in order to be brave enough to go after him."

"You and Katie are not the same person."

"In most ways, we aren't," Ellie agreed, "But, in this way, in this annoying, stupid way, we are. I just feel like if you guys aren't going to tell the truth, then I'm going to tell it for you."

"So you don't think we're good for each other?"

Ellie rolled her eyes and grunted in frustration.

"I'm saying, you should think about where you and Katie want to be in the next few years, and see whether or not either of you even remotely fit into the other's lives," she reiterated, "Now that I have scarred you thoroughly, I'm going home to eat a pint of rocky road." She got up out of her chair, noting that it was slightly more difficult than it normally was, thinking dully about how difficult it was to get into her jeans that morning. She slung her purse over her shoulder and started to walk away.

"Ellie?"

She turned back to look at him.

"Yes?"

"Why are you saying this stuff to me and not to Katie?"

She laughed lightly.

"Because my cousin is the second most headstrong and determined person I know."

"Who's the first?"

Ellie smiled coyly.

"Me."

_**A/N: So I hope I lived up to the hype of this scene. I tried, but I don't feel particularly confident about this one, but I really tried. Sorry, guys, hopefully I can update more quickly.**_


	10. Chapter 9

_**A/N: So this chapter is going to be funny, I wanted to add some fun Castle/Beckett time. Next chapter, I believe, is going to be the engagement party, which should also be fun.**_

"So how exactly did we get roped into this?" Castle asked his partner. He and Beckett were in his apartment, baking up a storm. Beckett was preparing deviled eggs on the island while Castle was mixing chicken salad by the sink, "I mean, you're a cop and I'm a writer, so how exactly did it get to the point where we became the caterers of this engagement party?" Beckett grinned.

"Scared you can't stand the heat, Castle?" she teased.

"No," Castle grumbled, "My point is, how did this happen?"

"Because Ellie needed help," Beckett told him matter-of-factly, "And we're suckers."

"Plus, she's kind of scary…" Castle mused. Beckett chuckled.

"She's always been like this," she explained, "It's crazy, but Ellie can get anyone to do what she wants…"

Castle smiled crookedly.

"Even you?" he provoked her. She glared at him half-heartedly over her task.

"No, Castle, that's why I'm up to my elbows in hard-boiled eggs…"

"It's just funny," he said, "I have never heard you admit to being a sucker before."

"Which, you never will. Because I'm not. But Ellie..." her thought process eluded her for a moment, and Castle observed the expression of tender expression on his partner's face when she began again, "she's like kid sister I never had but always wanted. It's just…so easy to put aside whatever I'm dealing with to help her in some way." She smiled sheepishly. "What about you, Castle? Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know," he admitted slowly, "Part of it is because Ellie is my friend. She's a good kid. Part of it is for you."

He said the last words softly, and Beckett tensed up. As she always did, even when his words were not even remotely meant to be romantic. She caught a glimpse of the sheepish, bumbling expression on his face. It was adorable.

Wait, adorable? Beckett shook the thought furiously, exhaling with much more force than needed. She turned away from him and grabbed a bowl off the counter.

"Cas-" she began. She stopped because when she turned around to face him, she had actually collided with him. And with the bowl of cake batter he had just mixed. Kate looked down at her shirt, dyed brown like the chocolate cupcakes that they were supposed to be making next, "Castle!"

"Ohhh…I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It was an accident."

Beckett blew a strand of her hair out of her face exasperatedly.

"Right…so is this…"

She took a handful of the batter and smeared it in Castle's face…

"Ever feel like you've been working so hard on a project, and then look at it and think, 'I'm not even halfway done…'"

Jared looked at his fiancée with both affection and amusement. He admired the cute little crease between her eyebrows and resisted the urge to kiss her senseless. They were headed to Castle's loft in order to help them get the food for their party ready. Well, the plan was to let everyone else cook while Ellie got to lay about lazily, and sample their cooking.

"I'm guessing we're not talking about engagement party plans," he said. Ellie stopped glaring at the floor and smiled at him lovingly.

"You know me so well," she mumbled, getting closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Jared pulled her to him and planted a kiss on her temple.

"That I do, my crazy fangirl," he whispered, "And your weird match-making methods are not exactly a science, babe…" He kissed her on the lips once, then twice. She smiled at him, and to his relief, he could feel the tension release in her body.

"Science or not…" she retorted mischievously, "I feel like I've kind of reached a brick wall. Talking to Josh last week…I don't think I made him understand anything…"

"It's going to take time," he reassured her, "For now, let's focus on other, more pressing matters. Like the engagement party. Or the baby."

He released her and the two of them got off of the elevator on Castle's floor. They held hands as they walked up to the apartment.

"Yes to the engagement party. I already love our baby and all, but I also feel like a whale with a bladder the size of a walnut. Plus, I think the second we get inside, I'm going to eat all the food for our engagement party even before it happens," Ellie told him. Jared nodded in agreement, and knocked gently. When there was no answer, he opened the door. "Holy…"

"What the…ummm…should we leave you two alone?" Jared asked awkwardly. He looked from Beckett, to Castle, to Ellie, then back to Beckett, looking both amused and horrified. Beckett glared, looking thoroughly hilarious with a streak of chocolate running from her hairline diagonal to her chin. Her hair was matted and sticking up in some places. Castle looked like he was wearing a mask of chocolate, and was wearing what the assumed to be the bowl that originally held all the batter on his head.

Ellie couldn't decide which one of them looked more hilarious. It didn't matter anyway, because she couldn't contain her laughter. She fell to her knees in a heartbeat, her laughter echoing off the walls of Castle's loft. Beckett joined in, Jared and Castle soon following.

Castle and Beckett got themselves cleaned up while Jared and Ellie took care of the kitchen. Then they spent the rest of the evening fixing a few more of the dishes needed for the party. The evening is light and jovial, and presented Ellie with much hope that her plans might just be working.

_**A/N: I had a little too much fun writing that. I wanted them to seem like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar. I also kind of think them being goofy and kid-like is fun…**_


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

_**A/N: Can I just say I love you guys? Seriously, I have had more fun writing this story and have felt so much more motivated to write in general because of all the supportive reviewers that I have. Each person who follows or favorites or sends me a nice message is helping me remember why I love to write.**_

"Darling, you are worrying an awful lot about a party that is not for you," Martha observed wryly as they approached the Old Haunt. The night of Ellie and Jared's engagement party had finally arrived, but he had been unable to see over the last of the preparations with Beckett because he needed to pick up Alexis, Ashley, and his mother. They could already hear the party had started, music and noise full force. Jared and the future Mrs. Hart.

"Mother, I've been working on the preparations for this for three months with Beckett," Castle replied, "Ellie and Jared deserve a perfect engagement party."

"I hardly think they will be upset at you if some little detail is off."

Castle chuckled. Alexis slipped her arm through her father's and smiled affectionately.

"Of course they won't. But that just makes him want to try harder," she told her grandmother as Castle and Ashley held the doors open for them.

The party was in full swing. The room was packed with laughing, boisterous guests. There was a table off to the side that was piled with gifts for the happy couple. A projector screen was pulled down at the front of the room, and on the screen flashed pictures of Jared and Ellie, and all the people they loved. Castle heard some sort of music playing but the crowd was so loud he couldn't tell what it was.

A plump woman, with hair the same shade as Jared approached them almost immediately. Castle looked at her strong, high-placed cheekbones and realized instantly he was looking at Jared's mother, Clarisse Hart. She caught his eye in a heartbeat and smiled.

"You _must_ be Rick."

"I am indeed. You must be Clarisse…"

"Call me Reese, everyone does," she greeted him, "oh, and this must be your lovely family…"

"Yes, this is my mother, Martha, and my daughter, Alexis," he introduced them, "and this is my daughter's boyfriend, Ashley."

"Oh, my goodness, Alexis, dear, you have got the prettiest eyes, and oh, that hair…" Reese gushed in a dramatic fashion that the whole Castle found endearing. She turned to look at Ashley, "you are a lucky young man…"

Alexis blushed and Ashley gazed upon her fondly.

Beckett was across the room, talking to a tall, broad shouldered stranger who also bore a striking resemblance to Jared. She caught Castle's eye and smiled. She took quick stock of the room and nodded conspiratorially, as if to say, 'We did great!'

Castle took a moment to take in her appearance as she excused herself from the man she was talking to and began walking towards him. She was wearing a deep red halter dress that came almost to her knees. Castle loved the way in hugged her curves, featured her creamy skin, elegant neck, and clavicle and…

Alexis nudged her father before he could finish that thought. He glanced at his daughter, and was met by the mischievous smiles of his mother and little girl. He looked away from them sheepishly. Alexis was the first to greet her, hugging her. Beckett hugged her back gently. Martha hugged her as well. Ashley shook her hand politely, and the rest of them watched in amusement as Castle and Beckett struggle with their own greeting. Castle stepped forward and put his arms around Beckett hesitantly. She was just as awkward and it took all of Alexis' self-control not to burst out laughing. For a couple so perfect for each other, they sure seemed reluctant to really touch each other.

Beckett caught Reese's expression of amusement out of the corner of her eye and quickly let go of Castle. She took step back, just as the man she had been speaking to approached her.

"Guys, this is Jared's brother, Reese's oldest son, Greg. I went to school with him from elementary to high school," Beckett introduced him.

Greg Hart looked a lot like his youngest brother. Same eyes and cheekbone structure. Their noses were a little different, as were the shapes of their mouths. Greg was a little more serious than his brother, something Castle figured out about ten seconds into talking to him.

The party was going really well. The music was an assortment Jared put together of both his and Ellie's favorite music, some upbeat, some moody and some sentimental. Ellie worked her way through the crowd like a pro with Jared by her side. Her people skills were even something Castle envied. Beckett stood close to Castle, her eye on Ellie and Jared as well.

There was something rather hypnotizing about watching Jared and Ellie together. Their love was obvious to anyone who looked at them. They socialized, but kept close to each other. Every once in a while, Jared would lean close and whisper something in Ellie's ear. She would lean into him and smile a perfectly wonderful smile. He'd snake his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder, and his hands on her pregnant belly. They were a truly beautiful sight.

Jared's only sister got up and made a speech about twenty minutes later. Introducing the slide show she had put together on behalf of her big brother and her soon-to-be sister-in-law. The song was slow; one of Ellie's favorites, _To Make You Feel My Love_ by Adelle, and the slideshow began. Pictures of what he assumed to be baby Ellie and baby Jared. Pictures of them side-by-side and separately, with family and friends.

One picture in particular caught his eye. This one had Beckett in it, maybe her late teens, sitting on the couch next to her mother, each woman hugging one of Ellie's sides. The three of them looked as if they were laughing.

It looked as if it was a happy moment, but he could feel the stab of pain in his partner's heart as if it were his own. He took a step forward, reaching out and taking her hand in his. He was afraid she would be upset, but pleasantly surprised when, instead, she turned her hand around and intertwined her fingers with his.

Ellie and Jared were standing off to the side, not too far away, watching this all unfold. It hadn't been intentional. That picture happened to be Ellie's favorite one, but she hadn't known that Marissa had gotten a hold of it for the slide show. She'd known, though, once she'd seen Katie that it would affect her. Jared had seen it, too, and being the overprotective surrogate sibling he was, had tried to go to her. Ellie, however, tugged on his hand and shook his head when he turned to look at her. Both of them watched in amazement at Castle's action, and in surprise at Katie's response. In Ellie's heightened emotional state, she felt her eyes fill with tears again.

Jared brushed a strand of hair over her shoulder and planted a kiss on his fiancé's forehead. She smiled at him, curling her fingers up with his as they walked towards Beckett and Castle's family. Beckett and Castle let go of each other's hands.

"Welcome to our insane family get-together…"


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

_**A/N: So I am hoping to get this done within the next few chapters, this has been really fun, and I'm finally getting to the bits and pieces of it that I've had written since I first began this story way back when. Hehe. Yes, I am corny, but this is going to be fun…**_

"Hey," Ellie greeted her cousin softly. Beckett returned the greeting with an affectionate smile.

"Dork," she retorted playfully, "You have such a way with words…"

"Not everyone can be Richard Castle," Ellie replied smoothly, winking at her cousin's partner. Castle beamed.

"Oh, go ahead, inflate his ego, why don't you?" Beckett answered, rolling her eyes at both of them.

"It'll only take you a couple extra seconds for you to bring it back down, Katie," Ellie retorted in a teasing fashion. Beckett rolled her eyes.

"Ellie, Jared," Kate began, "this is Martha, Alexis and Ashley."

Ellie beamed at Alexis, and waved at Martha and Ashley. Jared responded verbally.

"It's nice to meet you," he said, "I see you've already met my mother."

"Nice to see you again, Alexis," Ellie said.

"Hopefully under less—"Alexis searched for a proper way of responding. Ellie giggled and threw her a bone.

"Loud circumstances?" she offered, "Yeah, I hope so, too."

Beckett looked in between the two of them in shock. Both Ellie and Alexis could not resist giggling.

"I'm sorry," Beckett spoke slowly, "when did you meet Alexis?"

"She…came over to the loft one night," Alexis explained ominously.

"Why?"

"Umm…well…" Castle stumbled, trying to find the right words. He didn't need to, as it turns out. Ellie giggle once more and said something in a language no one understood, except for, presumably, Beckett. Beckett's face contorted in shock. And soon the two were standing toe-to-toe, both with their hands on their hips, half yelling at each other in Russian.

The Castle clan and Ashley watched in amusement as the strong-willed women argued with one another. Castle bumped his shoulder lightly with Jared's.

"Do they always do that?" he asked the other man. Jared chuckled.

"Argue in Russian?" he asked, "Hell, yes. It's their way of keeping secrets while hashing out their issues with one another. You'll get used to it."

"What are their issues now, exactly?" Castle asked. Jared raised an eyebrow, and shook his head.

"Not really sure," he said, "I only understand bits and pieces of Russian, and they are talking way too fast for me to even try.'" He pursed his lips, trying not to smirk, "I do, however, have a theory." Castle looked at him with curiosity.

"Oh, would you shut your trap, J.J.," Beckett's voice interrupted their conversation.

"Like that's possible. Murphy women always fall for talkers," Ellie retorted in a sing-song voice, "You should know that by now."

The words Beckett muttered after this sounded after that statement were in Russian again, though Castle had the strangest feeling they weren't particularly nice words.

The night continued on. The music stopped for a minute as Ellie sang a song dedicated to Jared. Jared made a song for her in turn, one of his own creation that was a big hit during the party.

Castle and Beckett had once again drifted off into a corner by themselves. Alexis and Ashley were either watching or dancing. Martha was busy entertaining a group of handsome middle aged men somehow related to Beckett and Ellie.

After she finished singing, Ellie made her way to the corner of the room to her cousin. She grabbed Beckett's forearm and pulled her into the middle of the room. Beckett was reluctant to follow. Finally, she asked:

"What are you doing?"

Ellie smiled in a terrifyingly mischievous fashion.

"Now, it's your turn," she said cooly. Beckett looked around a moment before she realized what her cousin was talking about.

"No, Ellie. No…" Beckett shook her head vehemently.

"Since when have you been a shy one?"

"Since you invited the people I work with," Beckett retorted.

"Katie, I invited your surrogate family, not some random people you have to keep your guard up for. Live a little; loosen up," she replied reproachfully. Watching her cousin's terror-filled gaze, she added, "For me, Katie. Whatever happened to Helter Skelter?"

Beckett visibly flinched at her high school nickname.

"She grew up."

Ellie rolled her eyes.

"Don't you remember what Aunt Jo's favorite saying? 'Growing old is mandatory. _Growing_ _up_, however, is optional…"

Beckett glared.

"I hate you so much," she mumbled.

"You love me," Ellie refuted with ease, completely ignoring her cousin's discomfort, "And I love you."

Castle had yet to understand what exactly Ellie was trying to get Beckett to do.

"Yeah, yeah," Beckett responded. Ellie moved towards the DJ and smiled. Upon hearing the intro of the song, Beckett gawked.

"I am so going to kill you," she informed her younger cousin. Ellie merely grinned, propping her hands up on her hips as she began to sing:

"_Every single day,_

_I walk down the street_

_I hear people say 'baby so sweet,'"_

Ellie winked, jumping up on a near table and folding one leg over the other. She leaned towards her fiancé, who was grinning at her. Castle started to laugh.

"_Ever since puberty_

_Everybody stares at me_

_Boys, girls, I can't help it, baby_

She turned around and slung her arms around Jared's neck. He was trying not to laugh, touching her waist lightly.

"_So be kind, and don't lose your mind_

_Just remember that I'm your baby…"_

She pushed Jared slightly to the side, and stood with her feet a shoulder-width apart, her arms out and she sang theatrically:

"_Take me for what I am_

_Who I was meant to be_

_And if you give a damn_

_Take me, baby_

_Or leave me…"_

"_Take me, baby, or leave me…"_

"_A tiger in a cage_

_Can never see the sun_

_This diva needs her stage_

_Baby, let's have fun_

_You are the one I choose_

_Folks would kill to fill your shoes_

_You love the lime light too now, baby_

_So be mine, and don't waste my time_

_Cryin' 'oh, honey bear, are you still my, my, my baby?'"_

"_Don't you dare_," Beckett muttered at her, barely containing her laughter.

"_Take me for what I am_

_Who I was meant to be_

_And if you give a damn_

_Take me, baby, or leave me."_

"_No way, can I be what I'm not_

_But hey, don't you want your girl hot?_

She turned, propping her hands up on her hips and smirking playfully at her cousin. Beckett's brow quirked as Ellie got closer.

"_Don't fight, don't lose your head_

_'Cause every night who's in your bed?"_

Ellie laughed, head tipping to one side mischievously, and Beckett got the feeling her cousin was sending her a completely different message than the one actually pertaining to this song.

"_Who?_

_Who's in your bed?"_

Sighing, Beckett propped her hands up on her hips and spoke: "_It won't work_." She walked past Castle and her cousin, shaking her head as she began singing.

"_I look before I leap_

_I love margins and discipline_

_I make lists in my sleep, baby_

_What's my sin?_

_Never quit, I follow through_

_I hate mess, but I love you_

_What do with this impromptu baby?_

_So be wise 'cause this girl satisfies_

_You got a prize, so don't compromise_

_You're one lucky baby!"_

Castle watched in awe as a whole new side to Kate Beckett emerged. He glanced over at Ellie, who met his eyes briefly and winked again, grinning from ear to ear like the magnificent Cheshire cat she was. Ellie was, in her own way, as extraordinary as her cousin. She was someone's muse as well. But her part was different to him. To Beckett, to the most extraordinary woman he'd ever had the pleasure of looking at, her part was simple: sister. A sister who could provoke his partner's most melodramatic and wondrous tendencies and help her share that part of herself with those who loved her most.

He didn't think it was possible, for Kate Beckett to become even more beautiful in his eyes, but he was wrong. He sat by, watching her laugh and dance and sing with her surrogate sister, carefree and absolutely breath-taking. Alexis was beside him, laughing in amusement as the cousins worked out their own Broadway interpretation of the song.

"_Take me for what I am!"_

Ellie laughed: "_A control freak._" Beckett winked at her.

"_Who I was meant to be…"_

"_A snob, yet over attentive,_" Beckett's cousin said, laughing still.

"_And if you give a damn…"_

"_A loveable droll geek!_" Ellie shouted.

"_Take me, baby, or leave me."_

Together, they sang, moving in sync to opposite sides of the floor, gesticulating dramatically.

"_That's it!"_

Beckett sang:

"_The straw that breaks my back."_

Once again, in unison:

"_I quit!"_

Beckett again:

"_Unless you take it back!"_

"_Women!"_

Ellie came over and perched at Castle's side, using his shoulder as an armrest and rolling her eyes as she sang:

"_What is it about them?"_

Ellie let go, and the two women centered themselves around the table in the middle of the room. They both sang:

"_Can't live with them or without them!"_

Simultaneously, the two women shot forward and slammed their hands on opposite sides of the table. They sang the chorus at each other, sometimes in a cannon, rather than separately, each seeming to try and force their laughter back down.

"_Take me for what I am!"_

Beckett first: _"Who I was meant to be!"_

Then Ellie: _"Who I was meant to be…and if you give a damn!"_

It was Beckett's turn again, _"And if you give a damn you better…take me baby, or leave me!_" Ellie countered: _"Take me baby, take me or la-la-la-la-la-leave me!"_

They finished it together:

"_Take me baaaaby-ay, or leave me!"_

When they finished, the music stopped and everyone around them clapped. Ellie had collapsed in a fit of laughter, leaving Jared with his hands on her waist, trying to steady her. Beckett caught Castle's eye from across the room, breathless from her performance, and flashed him a brilliant smile. He returned it, but in his eyes, she felt something far more intense. Something that had her scared out of her mind and breathtakingly happy all at once.

_Castle…_


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

_**A/N: So this is my next chapter, background on Ellie and Jared. Beckett/Castle fluff…oh, how I love to write. Sorry I'm not more consistent, guys…**_

"That was so cool!" Ryan exclaimed enthusiastically as Beckett came back towards her friends. Esposito gave him a dirty look, and Castle could see he was considering taking his man card, but Lanie elbowed him in the gut before he could say anything.

Ellie giggled and pulled Jared's arms more tightly around her waist. She watched her cousin avert her eyes from her partner and look around the room at anything but him. Normally this would have made her sigh at least, but she was feeling far too happy to even contemplate it. Beckett looked like she was thinking far too hard, but whatever thoughts she had were interrupted when yet another family member approached them. Ellie's mother, Lily Ann Murphy.

"Hello, my darlings!" she chirped loudly.

Looking at her next to her daughter, you couldn't tell that they were actually related. Ellie took after her father more than her mother, her features closer to Beckett's. For one, Lily was platinum blonde, with low lights of black. It was clear her hair had been treated with so many chemicals it was mostly aerosol and peroxide soaked straw. While she had most likely been a beautiful woman at some point, it was also painfully obvious that most of her appearance had been created surgically. A nose job, facelifts, tucks and implants meant to enhance her in every way.

While he knew his mother had been a flighty and shallow individual, Castle had always been proud of the fact that Martha Rodgers had never resorted to surgery in order to maintain a beautiful and youthful appearance. Looking at the product of such a habit on a woman roughly ten years older than himself, he was even more grateful to his mother. He wondered how a woman such as Lily could have produced such a naturally lovely and profoundly un-shallow daughter like Ellie. And judging by the look of terror on the young Jared's face, Castle guessed that he felt the same. Ellie giggled again, though he was certain that Lily did not notice.

"Is she really-" Castle whispered to Beckett. Beckett looked at his face, only taking half a second to understand what he was saying.

"Yes. Ellie's mom. My aunt. And yes, she's had more surgeries to get her looking that way than I've had birthdays."

"Eep."

"You look scared, Castle."

"Nonsense, what's there to be scared of?"

The look on his face said the opposite. She grinned at him.

"I'll tell you what, Castle, if you can handle my Aunt Lily, I'll never dispute your masculinity again…"

"You're on."

Castle regretted this bargain nearly instantaneously. Lily Murphy was like a hurricane of insanity and irrationality. She was a train wreck, on the hunt for a younger man, a new husband. Her fifth, to be exact. He remembered Beckett talking about how the only man Lily truly ever loved was her uncle, Ellie's father, and how since then she's been looking for someone to just make her feel less lonely. Unfortunately, her relationships were brief and destructive, over and over again. But Beckett was not his only source of information. Lily told him every awkward, gross and sad detail of her failed marriages, from her "accidental" affair with the gardener that ended her second marriage to the custody battle she had with her fifth husband over her schnauzer named Enrique. It was also excruciatingly clear that she found Castle attractive.

Beckett sat on the sidelines, unable to contain her hysterical laughter as she watched Castle trying desperately to get away from her crazy aunt. She let him flounder for at least half an hour, Ellie berating her for sicking the unstable Lily on her partner just for fun, though unable to stop herself from laughing as well. Finally, Beckett knew it was time to intervene. She walked over to them.

"Aunt Lily, do you think I could steal Rick away for a dance or two?"

Beckett almost laughed at the complete and utter relief that flooded her partner's expression as her Aunt Lily turned her gaze to her. Her aunt appraised her for a few moments, disappointment etched in her face. Reluctantly, she stepped away from him.

"Very well, Katherine, he is all yours…" she said huffily, stalking off towards where her daughter and her fiancé were talking to Jenny and Ryan. Watching her walk away, Beckett stepped into his partner's waiting arms, slinking her own around his shoulders. Castle slipped his hands to her waist with a natural ease.

"You looked like you were in need of rescuing," she said lightly. Castle shook his head, wincing.

"And I thought after Meredith I could deal with anyone," he murmured indignantly, "Feel free to dispute my masculinity all you like, that woman is terrifying…"

Beckett chuckled.

"Trust me, I know," she replied, "Makes me wonder how Ellie turned out so well…"

"Strength of character, I'd imagine," Castle mused, "How do you think Alexis turned out so well?" Beckett rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"I don't know..." Beckett said, "For all your faults, you are a wonderful father. And Alexis does have a lot of your good points…"

"And what are those, dear detective?" Castle asked, waggling his eyebrows playfully. Beckett rolled her eyes.

"Don't push your luck, Castle, put away the fishing pole..."

"The truth is I see far more similarities between you and Ellie than between Ellie and her mother. Especially with what you just said. A fishing pole, really?"

"That just comes from how much time I've been spending with her," Beckett said, laughing. Then, she sighed, glancing over at where her cousin perched, at a table across the room. Jared was saying something to her, whispering in her ear. After a moment, she tipped her head back and let out a hearty, musical laugh. Beckett smiled softly, "I don't know…I see my mom. Sometimes, with the way she talks…the way she lives…"

"It's like hanging out with a younger version of your mother," he finished for her with ease.

"Sometimes," Beckett admitted quietly, "Ellie is also quite good at voicing her opinion and dispensing advice…whether or not you want her to. And she's usually right, too. I really hate that."

"How long have she and Jared been together again?" Castle asked, curious.

"Two years," Beckett answered.

"Only two?" He cocked his head to the side, his gaze questioning. Beckett shook her head and sighed once more.

"Well, Jared, I know for a fact, has been in love with Ellie since he first met her," Beckett explained, "Which basically means he's been in love with her for twenty years. Ellie…she didn't pick up on it right away…"

"So what changed?"

"Jared got transferred to L.A. for work. Ellie was in the middle of her degree, at Columbia. Jared is a couple years older; he'd been applying for jobs everywhere since he graduated from college. L.A. was both a blessing and a curse for him...His life was changing so rapidly, and he didn't know how to handle it. So he asked Ellie to come with him…evidently he had decided that that was the time to change things between them. Ellie flipped out on him, claimed that she couldn't leave her home, along with her mom and Dad and me…It became this big screaming match. Then Jared left…"

A crease formed in between Castle's eyebrows. He couldn't help but notice how similar the situation between Ellie and Jared was compared to himself and his partner.

"So how did they fix it?" he asked, "I mean, obviously they did, but how do they repair their relationship after that?"

"They didn't…not right away, anyway…he left, was gone for about six months…they spoke to each other here and there. Not often, but some. Neither could really quite tell the other what they were feeling. But Ellie walked around like some sort of zombie. Her heart was broken, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't just move past it. I was hanging out with Ellie one day; we weren't really doing anything special or important. We were cooking dinner, and listening to the radio. At one point when we were cooking, Ellie just freezes. I didn't notice until I asked her to pass something and then she didn't respond. I asked her what was wrong, and she just looks at me…and bursts out laughing. Just laughing, uncontrollably, like some sort of mental patient. There was more to it, I know, something that triggered it; she was already headed towards that revelation. But it was the song that got to her…"

"What song was it?"

"I can't even remember. One of their many inside jokes that no one but they understand...either way...we're here."


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

_**A/N: I am trying really hard to update more frequently. It's easier at this point because I actually had more of the middle and end part written than I did the beginning.**_

Ellie watched Castle and Beckett from across the room, mildly listening to Jared soothing her mother's nerves in the background. She was completely entranced watching Castle and Beckett dance together. She thought, 'How can they not see how wonderful they are together?' She knew the answer, of course. Fear. She sighed, wondering why that emotion had to be so powerful that it got strong-willed individuals such as Castle and Beckett to hide their feelings, even when it was obvious to the whole entire universe that they were meant to be. Such a cliché.

"You're trying to get them together, aren't you?" Alexis asked, coming up beside Ellie. The older woman blinked in shock.

"Uh…I…umm…" Ellie fumbled for what to say and came up with nothing. Alexis smiled.

"Need some help?" the young girl asked. Again, Ellie was floored. She smiled mischievously at Alexis Castle.

"Sugar, spice and everything nice has a devious side…" she teased, "I like it. Then again, being related to your father, how could you not?"

"Thank you," Alexis replied, "I think…"

Ellie turned back to look at Castle and Beckett, still dancing and laughing like lovesick loons. A crease formed between her eyebrows and chewed on her lower lip in a contemplative fashion.

"The problem is that it's not really your dad that is the trouble in all this…" she admitted, wringing her hands in a distracted, irritated fashion. Alexis giggled.

"That's hilarious…" she said in between breaths, "I'm so used to it being him…"

Ellie grinned.

"It seems he finally met his match…" the woman mumbled, "oh, my…non-couples are so dramatic…"

"Non-couple?" Jenny, who had been following the conversation with confusion the entire time, asked. Ellie winked at her.

"Oh, you know, those couples obviously destined to be together," Ellie explained, bemused, "but for some reason, they just can't manage it. Always toeing the line, doing this stupid mating dance that just annoys all of the people who care about the two of them. I.e., all of us…" she paused here, breathing a heavy sigh, "do I have to do everything?" Ryan and Esposito looked at each other and shrugged. Ellie moved her hands back down to her protruding belly and shook her head. Martha walked up behind her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"They'll come around," she said kindly.

"Maybe," Ellie mumbled, "I just…I can't stand the pain that they are both causing themselves by not being together. I've been there. Every day implied but never explicitly said gets old really fast…" She wondered if her Sense and Sensibility reference made any sense out loud. Remembering Marianne's words made her sad.

"You are wise beyond your years, little one," Martha told her, giving her a quick hug. Ellie grinned.

"Thank you, Martha."

Just then, Jared walked up to her. He extended his hand out and smiled.

"Dance with me."

Smiling, Ellie followed the love of her life out onto the dance floor.

The night continued. Castle and Beckett stayed close to one another, dancing and laughing, talking and showing everyone else in the room how suited they were for one another. Ellie and Jared were focused only on each other, stuck in their own little world. Ellie stopped paying attention to Castle and Beckett for at least an hour, basking in her own happiness. All of the sudden, Ellie's eyes went wide. She gestured at them frantically as she continued dancing, touching her left ear, then her right, and then dragging her index finger across her throat. Ryan, Jenny, Esposito, Ashley and Alexis all looked at her in confusion, even as she shook her head rapidly.

"Huh?" Esposito asked.

"What was that?" Ryan said.

"What does that mean?" Alexis asked him.

"Umm…it was nonsense…someone dead…" Ryan said, squinting at his boss' cousin, "really confused. Ells, that didn't mean anything." He muttered the last bit.

"Someone's dead?" Jenny replied, gripping his arm.

"No, no, that's not it," he reassured her, brow furrowing.

"You know…" Ashley said, contemplative, "she was looking at the guy talking to Captain Montgomery…"

Curious, all of them searched the room for the captain. They found him, standing next to his wife, talking to a tall, dark-haired man.

"Uh-oh," Ryan muttered. Alexis watched the man curiously, already having a theory as to who he was and why Ellie would be so worried.

"That's Josh, isn't it?" she whispered to Ryan. The detective nodded.

"Uh-oh," Jenny echoed her fiancé.

"Who's Josh?" Ashley asked quietly.  
>"Detective Beckett's boyfriend," Alexis told him. Ashley looked at all three of them, then his eyes drifted back to Castle and Beckett on the dance floor. His mouth formed an 'O,' and his brow was furrowed.<p>

"Wait, what?" he whispered loudly.

"I'll tell you later," Alexis told him, squeezing his hand.

Meanwhile, Ellie and Jared were pushing their way through the crowd on the dance floor to get to Castle and Beckett before Josh got to them. Josh was coming over from the other side.

"Hey, guys," Ellie greeted in a rushed fashion, causing Castle and Beckett to separate just in time for Josh to show up. Kate appeared shocked that Josh was there, and greeted him with a gentle kiss and hug.

The sad look on Castle's face was almost too much for her to bear. She reached out, taking his hand in both of hers.

"Come on, Writer-boy. Dance with me," she demanded with a voice one could only define as empathetic. She led him out to the dance floor and put her hands on his shoulders. He put his hands on her waist and smiled down at her. Ellie smiled back gently, and sighed, "I saw the look."

"What look is that, Miss Murphy?" he said in an attempt to be playful. He failed miserably. Ellie frowned, looking back to realize that he was watching Beckett and Josh over her shoulder. She sighed, moving her feet and forcing him to turn away.

"The look of a man watching the woman he loves in the arms of someone else," she answered, matter-of-factly.

"I don't—"

"Save your denials for your fans and coworkers, I'm her family," she said, raising an eyebrow, daring him to challenge her, "And I'm not blind, nor am I the least bit naïve. In Katie, you found intrigue, inspiration…" she paused, lifting a finger to his chin to make him look at her, "and love. Who could blame you, you've said it yourself…she's extraordinary."

By this point, he realized there was no use in trying to deny it anymore. At least not to Ellie. She'd figured him out the moment she met him. And that night she yelled at him in his own apartment. A calmer version of that expression was what she wore on her face right then, with the addition of an inquiring eyebrow raise similar to Beckett's.

"She really is."

"Good boy…" she said, smiling at his affirmation. She watched his face for a few more moments, brow furrowing, "it wasn't part of the plan, was it? Falling in love with her?"

"Definitely not. Granted, I don't really think I had a true plan. I just knew she was incredible, strong, brilliant, sexy, but after a while, I realized…"

"She was more than that," Ellie finished with ease.

"Theoretically, I shouldn't be telling you this…" Castle mumbled to himself. Ellie Murphy rolled her eyes in a way that put any melodramatic teenage girl to shame.

"Right," she replied in a snarky fashion, "because Katie has no right to know that her partner is in love with her. Especially since she's in love with him, too. Everyone who has ever read your books, along with everyone you've ever met with Katie knows this…"

"I don't think that's true…" said Castle, "at least the part about her being in love with me."

"And I think you doubt yourself far more than you let people know."

"You've figured me out quite quickly, Eleanor."

"Not as quickly as Katie…" a crease formed in between her eyebrows as she asked, "Have you ever read _A Room With A View_?"

"That is rather random…" Castle responded, "but, yes, of course I have."

"It was Katie's favorite book in high school," stated Ellie matter-of-factly, "And from the moment Katie started talking about you, you made me think of George Emerson. Don't object to that statement just yet…hear me out. It wasn't any particular trait of George Emerson, well, except for his outwardly obvious passion...it was Katie's reaction to you. It was how she could be completely herself around you, and you wouldn't judge her. How you somehow managed to understand the workings of her mind and her heart despite the fact that they are both far more complicated than anyone can predict. And how she couldn't stop you from breaking down those barriers she keeps up to protect herself. I always admired what you did, telling her the truth when you looked into Aunt Jo's case, even though you knew it might cost you her. It was brave…and beautiful, how you can't seem to stop interfering in the personal parts of her life, even when she tried to push you away, even though she didn't want you to at all."

"Yeah, isn't that just it…she doesn't want me to do all those things."

"She doesn't want anyone to," Ellie pointed out, "The point is that you're the only one who succeeded. Rick…she's…damaged. When Aunt Jo died…part of Katie died with her. Part of the Katie I knew and loved…when I was little, I followed her around a lot. I was her shadow back then. What Katie would do, I wanted to do. People loved her. When she smiled, people would do anything for her. When she laughed…it just made you so happy you had to laugh with her. That was one of my favorite things. She used to do this thing…where, when she was really happy, she'd tip her head back, wrinkle her nose, and let out this… big, musical laugh. I loved it. Aunt Jo loved it, Uncle Jim loved it. But when Aunt Jo died…she lost that part of herself. She shut everyone out, but she stayed strong. She always thought she had to be the strong one. For me, for Uncle Jim…"

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Castle.

"In the precinct the other day…when I walked in and you two were talking at her desk. You said something to her. I saw her look at you…and then it happened. It was the first real Katie laugh I'd heard in twelve years," Ellie told her, completely amazed, "And you were the one that made it happen. That's how I know you're the one she's supposed to be with. The one she wants to be with. Josh…he's merely a Cecil Vyse: the safe, non-risky, and, if I might say…rather pompous choice."

"So what do I do?" Castle's eyes were sad and vulnerable.

"Be there. Fulfill always…Katie is brilliant…and she'll figure it out. She did before."

"What are you talking about?" Castle asked, wondering just why she had said that.

"Spoilers, Rick…"

"Alexis showed me where that reference came from. Doctor Who, really?"

"A British sci-fi phenomenon…what can I say, Jared is stuck with an obsessive dork for the rest of his life."

"Lucky guy."

Ellie smiled with a gentle affection.

"She is in love with you, you know. Whether or not she even realizes it herself…she is."

"How do you know?"

"Because she's fighting you. Signature reaction for her to true emotion for someone else. If she didn't love you, she wouldn't be fighting so hard to not be with you."

_**A/N: I know there were at least a couple literary references in here, one from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and the other from A Room With A View by E.M. Forster, both books that I love. Not to mention the Doctor Who reference that I threw in. Yes, I am a true geek.**_


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

_**A/N: So here's my next chapter…**_

The night's festivities ended without any major hitches, other than Castle's lovesick heart and Ellie fierce annoyance, though the latter was soon soothed by the intensely sane Jared Hart, though many interesting things did happen. Ellie's eccentric mother soon ended up in a verbal sparring match with Martha Rodgers, one that had to be broken up by Ellie and Alexis. Lily also ended up doing a terrifying, near topless table dance to the song, 'Hit me baby, one more time,' which scarred Castle for life and embarrassed the hell out of her daughter. Jared, his brothers along with Ryan and Esposito ended up taking Lily into their own hands, putting her in a cab before Ellie herself exploded and strangled her mother in a fit of pregnancy hormones. Castle was amused at how all of these people gravitated around Ellie and Jared, taking care to make sure they were happy. The end of the night was happy, with Ellie and Jared getting into their car, Ellie humming an Adele song and Jared smiling like he was the happiest man in the entire world.

It must be nice. Though Castle had been in love before in his life, he had never experienced it the way that Jared and Ellie clearly had. He thought about what Ellie had said to him earlier in the night. It was nice to have it out in the open, truly talking about his unrequited love for Katherine Beckett to someone who truly knew her. And strangely enough, also knew him. Ellie was rooting for him, as she had said the night she screamed at him. It was nice to have an ally but he didn't want help. He just wanted Kate Beckett.

Once again, things went on business as usual, though Ellie's belly kept getting bigger, and she and Jared prepared more and more for their baby. They soon found out that they were having a girl, and the prospect sent everyone into overdrive. Beckett was happiest about this, excited for the little girl who would be out in the world in a few months.

Then came the day where Hal Lockwood's trial began. Katie was on edge, angry and fierce as ever, and Ellie tried really hard to keep her calm. She went to work, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach as she continued her work.

Ellie was in her office when she heard the explosion. A big, loud pop echoing from the courtroom a few rooms from where she sat. She leapt to her feet and strode towards the door, flinging it open and running out into the hallway.

She knew which court room it came from. Of course she did. Wherever Katie was, wherever her Aunt Jo's death was involved, disaster was sure to follow.

There was a man, one she recognized from Katie's murder wall, standing with three other men dressed in police officers' uniforms. But the men were not restraining him. They were freeing Hal Lockwood of his bonds and taking off with him down the halls of the courthouse. Ellie's eyes widened, horrified, as she contemplated what to do. A churning in her stomach forced her to accept reality and she flattened herself against the wall as he ran past.

As he passed, he caught a glimpse of her. A chill ran through her entire body as his cold, empty eyes locked with hers. The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement, like he knew. Like he understood just who she was and how helpless she was to stop anything he could do.

Kate ran out of the courtroom a few moments later. She didn't see Ellie, just kept running after Lockwood. After Katie came Castle, though he was not as fast as his partner. It wasn't long before Katie returned from chasing Lockwood, breathless and haggard-looking. It was then that she saw Ellie. She ran toward her, steadying Ellie as she trembled all over.

"I…I saw him…he looked right at me, Katie," Ellie whispered. Katie shook her head.

"You should have just stayed in your office," she scolded, moving one of her hands to Ellie's protruding belly, "She needs you."

"And I need you," Ellie retorted, eyes burning with an intensity no one could match. Beckett's mouth formed a tight thin line and she shook her head once more. Castle approached them. He looked directly at Beckett. His hand twitched, like he was just itching to touch Beckett, but he resisted the urge and instead asked,

"Are you okay?"

He was looking at Ellie, but the worry in his voice was clearly directed elsewhere, since it was clear that Ellie herself was clearly okay.

The three of them stood there, watching as the police officers and crime scene investigators worked, each of their minds in different places. Beckett, of course, was planning her next move in bringing her mother's murderer to justice. Castle was worrying about whether or not that next move would be her last. Finally Ellie was worrying that Katie was about to lose herself in that rabbit hole once more. And this time, she wasn't sure she knew how to bring her back. Or even if she would have a chance to.

_**A/N: Sooooo…I'm really trying to keep up…**_


	16. Chapter 15

**Ch****a****p****t****e****r F****i****f****t****e****e****n**

_**A/**__**N**__**:**____**My**____**n**__**e**__**x**__**t**____**c**__**ha**__**p**__**ter**____**i**__**s**____**go**__**i**__**n**__**g**____**t**__**o**____**in**__**v**__**ol**__**ve**____**Jim**____**B**__**eck**__**e**__**t**__**t**____**vis**__**i**__**t**__**i**__**n**__**g**____**a**__**n**__**d**____**po**__**s**__**s**__**i**__**b**__**l**__**y**____**hi**__**m**____**a**__**s**__**k**__**i**__**n**__**g**____**C**__**a**__**s**__**t**__**l**__**e f**__**o**__**r**____**h**__**e**__**l**__**p**__**.**_

"Dad!" "Uncle Jim!"

James Beckett entered his daughter's apartment, eager to visit with his beautiful daughter and

sweet little niece.

"Hey there, my beautiful girls! Come on, give me a hug."

Beckett hugged her father first, followed by Ellie soon after.

Kate and Ellie had prepared dinner for Jim and Jared, the latter of whom was still working when Beckett's father arrived. He got home an hour later, greeted by Jim with a paternal affection that warmed Ellie's heart.

While Kate and Jared cleaned up dinner, Jim sat next to Ellie on the couch, arm around her shoulder, marveling at her protruding stomach. Ellie laughed at his complete mushiness, and laughed, wondering how he'd ever be if Katie had a baby.

"So…you've met the partner…Do you think I'd like him?" Jim asked, once he made sure that Katie was not only out of earshot, but actually talking to Jared and would not hear him.

"Absolutely," Ellie replied emphatically, "Uncle Jim, I've never seen anything like it…"

"What?"

"Someone who…gets to her that way. Someone willing to fight her when she's being stubborn. Hold onto her even when she pushes as hard as she can for him to leave. Someone fully willing to do…anything for her. Someone who looks at her the way I know Jared looks at me," Ellie told her uncle. By the end of her little explanation, there were tears in his eyes. She looked over at her loving fiance and smiled tenderly.

"Sounds good for her," Jim commented.

"He is…if only she'd admit it."

"Now there's where things get tricky…"

"Yet she calls me a drama queen," Ellie mumbled irritably. Jim put his arm around his young niece's shoulders.

"Well, you know Katie," he said, "Stubborn to the last."

"I'm just worried that her stubbornness is going to cost her a partner and her life," Ellie revealed her real fears for the first time out loud. Unfortunately, she said it to the wrong person. Jim tensed up instantly and pulled away from her.

"Why would you say that? The part about her life?"

Ellie bit her lip, contemplating whether or not her uncle should know the truth. Kate had told him most of what was going on, but Jim never knew just how far down the rabbit hole she had gone. Katie had made sure to protect him from the truth of the risks to her, but instinctually, Ellie knew that her uncle was aware. So she decided to go with the gist.

"Hal Lockwood," she stated simply, "He's back, Uncle Jim."

"Oh, dear God…"

"Katie's…beyond determined," Ellie told him, "And I have no idea how to make her stop."

"I think I do. I think it's time I meet this writer of hers."

Ellie nodded at him as Jared and Katie came back into the room. Uncle Jim was quite level-headed. He showed no fear, instead smiling and laughing for the rest of the night.

Once he had gone home, Kate headed for bed. Jared held out his hand for Ellie and the two walked toward their bedroom. Ellie told him about her conversation with Jim, and Jared agreed that telling him was the right thing to do. He wondered out loud if Jim would go all over-protective father on Castle, a thought that made Ellie laugh. It was hard, though. She could hear Kate pacing around in the bedroom across the hall, surely hard at work, wracking her brain to figure out where Hal Lockwood had gone and even more, who was behind this entire thing. She curled up into Jared's chest, pushing down her growing fear that she would lose her cousin once and for all.

Meanwhile, Jim Beckett was making his way towards Richard Castle's apartment, seeking help from the one man in the world who could save his daughter from herself.

_**A/N: So I decided that I didn't need to add the whole scene with Jim talking to Castle, I just wanted it all to make sense with the timeline. Coming up though will be the Castle/Beckett fight from the season finale. Thanks for being so patient, I'm sorry I can't seem to be consistent in my writing**_


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

_**A/N: So here we go, me trying really hard to keep up and finish my story…only a few more chapters left.**_

"Hello, Eleanor…"

Ellie looked up from her briefing report to find Richard Castle standing in the doorway of her office with two coffee cups in hand.

"You really have a thing about keeping us Murphy women caffeinated, don't you?" Ellie commented dryly. Castle laughed.

"Nice try, honey, but this…is the best caramel hot chocolate in the city."

"Ooh! Me wants it!" Ellie exclaimed in a childish and undignified fashion, causing him to laugh once more.

"Take it easy, Smeegal," he said while handing her one of the cups.

"So what's with the sweets?" Ellie asked, "Not that I'm complaining, I'm just wondering what the occasion is."

"I met your uncle last night," Castle told her. Ellie raised an eyebrow at him, and then eyed him up and down.

"I take it that it went well, as you are still in one piece…" she observed. Castle grinned. But he only held it for a moment before his humor faded. His expression clouded over in a troubled manner. Ellie reached out and laid her hand over his, "I take it that it was a good talk, right?"

"Did you know that he was coming to see me?"

"I did, Rick. He's heard so much about you and…I couldn't help it, I told him about Lockwood coming back because I knew she wouldn't."

"Do you really think I should try and convince her to stop?" asked Castle.

"I think that you are the only person who has ever been able to pull her out of that rabbit hole for real," Ellie told him honestly. She thought back to when Aunt Jo first died, how vehemently Katie insisted on becoming a police officer, even though before that she had wanted to be a lawyer. She remembered helping Katie drag her uncle out of bars every night. She knew how long it had taken Katie to think that she had put her mother's death behind her. And then Castle came into her life and gave her the answers that she needed and kept her grounded. But now, Katie was on the verge of losing it again. And if Castle couldn't get her back, who would?

"Well, this conversation just got too serious," Castle mumbled.

"I know. Ugh, I am so tired of only thinking of serious things…" Ellie said. She stood up and then grunted. She put her hands on her perfectly round belly and groaned once more.

"Are you feeling okay?" a concerned Rick Castle asked her. Ellie shook her head quickly.

"I'm alright. I just don't think my daughter likes me being upset. Sweet little thing…"

"Daughters are like that."

Ellie smiled once more.

"Thank you, Rick."

Castle left shortly after their conversation took place, and Ellie spent the rest of her day concentrating as best as possible on her own work. Her caseload was rather light, due to her status as a fairly new ADA and also a pregnant woman, but each of her cases were detailed and fascinating. She tried her best to make herself calm, only think about happy things, at least for her baby girl's sake. Jared came to pick her up for lunch, and just being near him made her feel better. She glanced down at the ring glistening on her finger and smiled at the thought of being his wife someday. She smiled at the surely wonderful little girl growing in her belly and knew that if she was going to be okay, she needed to try and be better. This was her thought process as she walked down the hall towards Katie's apartment and heard her cousin's voice raised angrily. She listened harder and realized that she heard Rick's as well.

Uh-oh, is all she could think as she walked up to the door. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Jared.

"Is that what we are, Rick?" Kate yelled.

"You know, what, I don't know what we are. We kiss, and we never talk about it. We nearly die, frozen in each other's arms and we never talk about it," Castle shouted back at her. Ellie frowned.

'Eep,' she thought,' as she continued to listen. Finally, she'd heard enough.

The front door to Beckett's apartment burst open at that moment, revealing Ellie, messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She looked between the two of them with an expression one could only be described as shocked. Katie instantly looked at her feet, tears flooding her eyes. Castle visibly flinched, taking a breath before he stepped towards the exit.

"Rick—" Ellie started, grabbing his arm. He shook his head, looking towards the door as he

spoke.

"It's okay, Eleanor," he answered in a quiet, broken voice, squeezing her hand lightly as he pried

her fingertips off his shirt, "I think she's said all she needs to say." With that, he turned out of the apartment and departed. Ellie watched him go, frowning all the while. When he was out of sight, Ellie strode all the way into the apartment, slamming the door with an impressive force behind her.

"What the bloody hell is your problem, Katie?" she spat, coming around the counter near her cousin. Beckett's eyes narrowed defiantly, and she shook her head.

"Nothing."

"_N__ot__h__i__ng_…you just kicked out the one man in the world you actually need out of your life, and you call that _n__ot__h__i__ng_…you have got to be kidding me," Ellie exclaimed.

"I don't need any lectures, Ellie. Least of all from you."

"I don't give a good gor-ram whether or not you think need my lectures, Katie," retorted Ellie,  
>"I've stayed quiet long enough."<p>

"Quiet, ha! Arguing with me, using significant phrases and just plain not-staying-out of my business is what you call quiet?" Beckett yelled back.

"Yes! Because I thought if I just kept teasing you and goofing off that you'd come to the right

conclusions on your own. Instead, it seems, you've come to all the wrong ones…" Ellie huffed, "Look me in the eye, Kate, and tell me that the expression he had just now when he left wasn't killing you. As if the thought of him walking out of your life forever wouldn't break your heart all over again…tell me that you are not completely, irrevocably in love with him and I'll shut up about it forever!"

"I…I…I—" Beckett stuttered.

"You can't, can you?" Ellie said, "It's going to have to be you, Katie, that fixes this…it's going to be your choice, your move…because he's laid everything out already. Laid his heart and his life for you to just…trample on…and I love him all the more for it, and I know you do. Katie, you loved him last summer…just tell him the truth."

"Who the hell are you to tell me how I feel, Ellie! What do you know about how I feel? You're

Eleanor Murphy, the star pupil, everyone's favorite…you have no idea how it felt to lose Mom the way I did, to these people! You have no idea how it feels to watch your father fall apart! I was the responsible one, I had to take care of everything…It was my problem, Ellie, not yours!"

_**A/N: So this scene I actually had mostly written for a very long time, and the fight's not even over yet. Enjoy and I will try to update as soon as possible. Thanks for those of you who have remained patient with me.**_


End file.
